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ENCHIKIDION 

CONTAINING 

INSTITUTIONS 

CONTEMPLATIVE. 



DIVINE 



PRACTICAL. 



{ 



ETHICAL. 

(ECONOMICAL. 

POLITICAL. 



WRITTEN BY 

FRANCIS QUARLES. 





LONDON: 

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 

80HO SQUARE. 

1856. 

- 




PREFACE. 




HE first edition of the Enchi- 
ridion of Francis Quarles wa3 
published in 1641, and although 
its just popularity occasioned it to be several 
times reprinted before the close of the seven- 
teenth century, these various editions have 
become almost as scarce as the original one. 
It is unquestionably the most valuable of his 
prose works, and in many respects deserving 
of a place in the present series of Old 
English Authors. 

The author of an article in the Retro- 
spective Review (V. p. 181) very fairly esti- 
mates its merits. " It is," he says, " perhaps 
the best collection of maxims in the English 
language. Nor is it merely valuable for 



vi PREFACE. 

the discernment and knowledge of mankind 
which it evinces, the justness and weight of 
its matter, and the pithiness and conscious- 
ness of the style. Quarles had always some- 
thing higher in view than the exercise of his 
own ingenuity, or the mere intellectual 
gratification of his readers. His maxims 
fully display that his object was to produce 
a beneficial effect over human practice — to 
amend and reform mankind, and his observa- 
tions always carry with them a seriousness 
and unity of purpose. There is little of 
paradox, and nothing of the ostentation of 
ingenuity in his Enchiridion; but every 
sentence strikes upon the reader with the 
force of irresistible truth. He speaks not 
with the levity of the fanciful theorist, or 
the more worldly sagacity of the worldly- 
wise man ; but with the correctness of sincere 
conviction, and the determination of profound 
enquiry. He arrests the attention not by 
subtle chimeras or sophistical display, he 
does not plead with the dexterousness of the 
Counsel, but pronounces with the gravity of 
the Judge. He does not, like another great 
writer of maxims, anatomize the heart with 



PREFACE. vii 

curious and searchful malignity merely to 
show his skilly probe into its secret wounds, 
and leave them to fester as he found them, 
and hold up with petty triumph the naked- 
ness of his nature to derision ; but broods 
over her weaknesses and failings with the 
gentle and kindly regard of the good phy- 
sician, not more skilful in discerning the 
maladies and disorders of the patient, than 
able to alleviate and wishful to cure them. 

His maxims, though all valuable, have 
different degrees of merit. They generally 
commence in an injunction which the author 
clenches by some pointed antithesis, or illus- 
trates by some ingenious metaphor, or sup- 
ports by some shrewd thought or weighty 
apothegm. Originality does not appear to 
have been so usually the study of Quarles, as 
justness in his conclusions ; and yet most of 
the maxims in this book seem to have been 
the result of his own meditation. Perhaps 
the eagerness of the author to render his 
axioms striking, sometimes leads him too 
much into antithesis and playing upon words ; 
but this is the only defect which can be im- 
puted to this excellent little work." 



viii PREFACE. 

Dr. Dibdin, who (in 1807) edited the 
same author's " Judgment and Mercy for 
Afflicted Souls, or Meditations, Soliloquies, 
and Prayers/' imagined a resemblance be- 
tween the aphorisms of Quarles and the essays 
of Sir William Cornwallis. But, as in more 
than one instance, the bibliographer's opinion 
seems to have been given somewhat incon- 
siderately. Cornwallis has little of the 
energy of Quarles, and for the absence of 
this quality his quaintness does not ade- 
quately compensate, his style being less per- 
spicuous than concise. 

The best memoir of Quarles is that by 
the Rev. Robert Aris Willmott, in the first 
series of his Lives of the English Sacred 
Poets. 





TO THE 

GLORIOUS OBJECT OF OUR EXPECTATION, 

CHARLES PRINCE OF WALES. 

"HEN subjects bring presents to their 
Princes, it is not because their 
Princes want them; but that sub- 
jects want better waies to expresse 
the beauty of their unknowne affections ; I know 
your highnesse wants not the best meanes that all 
the world affords, to ground and perfect you in all 
those princely qualities, which befit the hopefull 
sonne of such a royal Father ; yet the boldnesse of 
my zeale is such that nothing can call backe mine 
arme, or stay the progresse of my quill, whose 
emulous desire comes short of none in the expres- 
sions of most loyall and unfeigned affection. To 
which end, I have presumed to consecrate these 
few lines to your illustrious name, as rudiments to 

B 



2 DEDICATION. 

ripen (and they will ripen) with your growing youth, 
if they but feel the sunshine of your gracious eye. 
My service in this subject were much too early for 
your princely view, did not your apprehension 
as much transcend the greennesse of your years ; 
the for war dn esse of whose spring thrusts forth 
these hasty leaves. Your Highnesse is the ex- 
pectation of the present age, and the point of future 
hopes : and cursed be he that both with pen and 
prayers shall not be studious to advantage such a 
high priz'd blessing : Live long our Prince : and 
when your royall father shall convert his regall 
diademe into a crown of glory, inherit his vertices 
with his throne and prove another phcenix to suc- 
ceeding generations : so pray'd for, and prophesied, 
by your Highnesse most loyall and most humble 
servant, 

Fra. Quarles. 




TO THE READER. 

|LL rules are not calculated for the 
meridian of every state. If all bodies 
had the same Constitution ; or all 
Constitutions the same Alteration ; 
and all Alterations the same Times, the emperick 
were the best physitian. If all States had the 
same Tempers and Distempers, and both the same 
Conservatives, and the same Cures, Examples were 
the best directions, and Rules digested from those 
Examples, were even almost infallible. The subject 
of Policy is Civill Government ; the subject of that 
Government is Men ; the variablenesse of those 
Men disabsolutes all Rules, and limits all Examples. 
Expect not therefore, in these, or any of the like 
nature, such impregnable generals, that no excep- 
tions can shake. The very discipline of the Church 
establisht, and confirm'd by the infallible choice, is 
not tyed to all times, or to all places. What we 



4 TO THE READER. 

here present you with, as they are no rocks to build 
perpetuity upon, so they are not rocks to split be- 
leefe upon: it is lesse danger to rely upon them, 
than to neglect them ; nor let any thinke (in these 
pamphleting dayes, and audacious times of unlicens'd 
pasquels) I secretly reflect upon particulars, or looke 
through a maske upon the passages of these dis- 
tempered times : farre be it off from my intention, 
or your imaginations ; My true ambition is to pre- 
sent these few politicall observations to the tender 
youth of my thrice-hopefull Prince, which like an 
introduction may lead him to the civill happinesse 
of more refined dayes, and ripen him in the glorious 
vertues of his renowned father, when heaven and 
the succeeding age shall style him with the name 
of Charles the second. 




ENCHIRIDION. 



THE FIRST BOOK. 




ENCHIRIDION. 



CENT. I. 



I. 




|IETY and Policy are, like Martha 
and Mary, sisters : Martha failes, if 
Mary help not : and Mary suffers, if 
Martha be idle : happy is that king- 
dome where Martha complaines of Mary ; but most 
happy where Mary complies with Martha : where 
Piety and Policy goe hand in hand, there warre 
shall be just ; and peace honourable. 



II. 

LET not civil discords in a forreign kingdome, 
encourage thee to make invasion. They that 
are factious among themselves, are jealous of one 
another, and more strongly prepared to encounter 
with a common enemy : those whom civill commo- 



8 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1. 

tions set at variance, forreigne hostility reconciles. 
Men rather affect the possession of an inconvenient 
good, than the possibility of an uncertaine better. 



III. 

IF thou hast made a conquest with thy sword, 
thinke not to maintaine it with thy scepter : 
neither conceive that new favours can cancell old 
injuries: No conqueror sits secure upon his new- 
got throne, so long as they subsist in power, that 
were dispoil'd of their possessions by his conquest. 

IV. 

LET no price nor promise of honour bribe thee 
to take part with the enemy of thy naturall 
prince: assure thy selfe who ever wins, thou art 
lost : if thy Prince prevaile, thou art proclaimed a 
rebell, and branded for death : if the enemy prosper, 
thou shalt be reckned but as a meritorious traytor, 
and not secure of thy selfe : he that loves the trea- 
son hates the traytor. 

V. 

IF thy strength of parts hath rais'd thee to emi- 
nent place in the Common-wealth, take heed 
thou sit sure : if not, thy fall will be the greater : 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 9 

as worth is fit matter for glory ; so glory is a fair 
marke for envy. By how much the more thy ad- 
vancement was thought the reward of desert; by 
so much thy fall will administer matter for disdaine : 
it is the ill fortune of a strong braine, if not to be 
dignified as meritorious, to be deprest as dangerous. 



VI. 

IT is the duty of a statesman, especially in a free 
State, to hold the Common-wealth to her first 
frame of government, from which the more it 
swerves, the more it declines : which being declin'd 
is not commonly reduced without that extremity, 
the danger whereof, rather ruines than rectifies. 
Fundamental! alterations bring inevitable perils. 



VII. 

THERE be three sorts of Government ; monar- 
chical!, aristocraticall, democraticall ; and 
they are apt to fall three several wayes into ruine : 
The first, by tyranny ; the second, by ambition ; 
the last, by tumults. A Common-wealth grounded 
upon any one of these, is not of long continuance ; 
but wisely mingled, each guard the other, and make 
that Government exact. 



10 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1. 

VIII. 

LET not the proceedings of a Captaine, though 
never so commendable, be confin'd to all 
times : as these alter, so must they : if these vary, 
and not they, ruine is at hand : he least failes in 
his designe, that meets time in its owne way : and 
he that observes not the alterations of the times, 
shall seldome be victorious but by chance : but he 
that cannot alter his course according to the alter- 
ations of the times shall never be a conquerour : He 
is a wise commander, and onely he, that can dis- 
cover the change of times, and changes his pro- 
ceedings according to the times. 

IX. 

IF thou desire to make warre with a Prince, with 
whom thou hast formerly ratified a league; 
assaile some ally of his, rather than himselfe : if he 
resent it, and come, or send in ayd, thou hast a 
faire gale to thy desires : if not, his infidelity in not 
assisting his ally, will be discovered ; hereby thou 
shalt gaine thy selfe advantage, and facilitate thy 
designes. 



B 



X. 

EFORE thou undertake a war, let thine eye 
number thy forces, and let thy judgement 



Cent. I. ENCHIRIDION. 11 

weigh them : if thou hast a rich enemy, no matter 
how poore thy souldiers be, if couragious and faith- 
full : trust not too much to the power of thy trea- 
sure, for it will deceive thee, being more apt to ex-, 
pose thee for a prey, than to defend thee : gold is 
not able to finde good souldiers ; but good souldiers 
are able to finde out gold. 



XL 

IF the territories of thy equall enemy are situated 
far south from thee, the advantage is thine, 
whether he make offensive, or defensive war; if 
north, the advantage is his : cold is less tolerable 
than heat : this is a friend to nature ; that, an enemy. 

XII. 

IT is not onely uncivill, but dangerous for soul- 
diers, by reproachful words, to throw disgrace 
upon the enemy. Base tearmes are bellowes to a 
slaking fury, and goads to quicken up reyenge in a 
fleeing foe: he that objects cowardize against a 
fayling enemy, adds spirit to him, to disprove the 
aspersion, at his owne cost : it is therefore the part 
of a wise souldier to refrain e it ; or of a wise com- 
mander, to punish it. 



12 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1. 

XIII. 

T T is better for two weake kingdom es rather to 
-*- compound an injury (though to some losse) 
than seeke for satisfaction by the sword, lest while 
they two weaken themselves by mutual blowes, a 
third decide the controversie to both their mines. 
When the frog and the mouse could not take up 
the quarrell, the kite was umpire. 

XIV. 

LET that Common-wealth which desires to 
flourish, be very strict, both in her punish- 
ments, and rewards, according to the merits of the 
subject, and offence of the delinquent : let the ser- 
vice of the deserver be rewarded, lest thou dis- 
courage worth ; and let the crime of the offender 
be punish't, lest thou encourage vice : the neglect 
of the one weakens a Common- wealth ; the omission 
of both mines it. 

XV. 

IT is wisedome for him that sits at the helme of 
a settled State, to demeane himselfe toward his 
subjects at all times, so, that upon any civill accident, 
they may be ready to serve his occasion : he that is 
onely gracious at the approach of a danger, will be 
in danger, when he expects deliverance. 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 13 

XVI. 

IN all designes, which require not sudden execu- 
tion, take mature deliberation, and weigh the 
convenients, with the inconvenients, and then re- 
solve ; after which, neither delay the execution, nor 
bewray thy intention. He that discovers himself, 
till he hath made himselfe master of his desires, 
layes himselfe open to his owne ruine, and makes 
himself prisoner to his own tongue. 

XVII. 

IBERALITY in a Prince is no virtue, when 
-*—' maintained at the subject's unwilling cost. It 
is lesse reproach, by miserablenesse, to preserve the 
popular love, than by liberality to deserve the pri- 
vate thankes. 



XVIII. 

TT is the excellent property of a good and wise 
-*- Prince, to use war as he does physicke, care- 
fully, unwillingly, and seasonably, either to prevent 
approaching dangers, or to correct a present mis- 
chief, or to recover a former losse. He that de- 
clines physicke till he be accosted with the danger, 
or weakened with the disease, is bold too long, and 



14 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1. 

wise too late. That peace is too precise, that limits 
the justnesse of a war to a sword drawne, or a blow 
given. 

XIX. 

LET a Prince that would beware of conspiracies? 
be rather jealous of such whom his extra- 
ordinary favours have advanced, than of those 
whom his pleasure hath contented : these want 
meanes to execute their pleasures ; but they have 
meanes at pleasure to execute their desires : ambi- 
tion to rule is more vehement, than malice or re- 
venge. 

XX. 

BEFORE thou undertake a war cast an impar- 
tiall eye upon the cause : if it be just, prepare 
thy army; and let them all know, they fight for 
God and thee : it adds fire to the spirit of a soul- 
dier, to be assured, that he shall either prosper in a 
faire war, or perish in a just cause. 



XXI. 

IF thou desire to know the power of a State, ob- 
serve in what correspondence it lives with her 
neighbouring State : If she make allyance with the 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 15 

contribution of money, it is an evident signe of 
weaknesse : if with her valour, or repute of forces, 
it manifests a native strength : it is an infallible 
signe of power, to sell friendship ; and of weaknesse 
to buy it : that which is bought with gold, will 
hardly be maintained with Steele. 



XXII. 

IN the calmes of peace it is most requisite for a 
Prince, to prepare against the stormes of warre ; 
both theorically, in reading heroick histories ; and 
practically, in maintaining martiall discipline : above 
all things let him avoid idleness, as the bane of 
honour ; which in peace, indisposes the body ; and 
in warre, effeminates the soul : he that would be in 
war victorious, must be in peace laborious. 



XXIII. 

IF thy two neighbouring Princes fall out, shew 
thyselfe either a true friend, or a faire enemy ; 
it is indiscretion, to adhere to him whom thou hast 
least cause to feare, if he vanquish : Neutrality is 
dangerous, whereby thou becomest a necessary prey 
to the conqueror. 



16 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. I. 

XXIV. 

IT is a great argument of a Prince's wisedome, 
not onely to chuse, but also to prefer wise coun- 
cellors : and such are they, that seek lesse their 
own advantages, than his, whom wise Princes ought 
to reward, lest they become their owne carvers ; 
and so, of good servants, turne bad masters. 

XXV. 

IT much conduces to the dishonour of a king, 
and the illfare of his kingdome, to multiply 
Nobility, in an overproportion to the common 
people: cheape honour darkens Majesty; and a 
numerous Nobility brings a state to necessity. 

XXVI. 

IT is very dangerous, to try experiments in a 
State, unlesse extreame necessity be urgent, or 
popular utility be palpable : it is better for a State 
to connive a while, at an inconvenience, than too 
suddenly to rush upon a reformation. 



I 



XXVII. 

F a valiant Prince be succeeded by a weak suc- 
cessor, he may for a while maintaine a happy 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 17 

State, by the remaining vertue of his glorious pre- 
decessour : but if his life be long, or dying he be 
succeeded by one lesse valiant than the first, the 
kingdome is in danger to fall to mine. That prince 
is a true father to his country, that leaves it the 
rich inheritance of a brave sonne. When Alexander 
succeeded Philip, the world was too little for the 
Conquerour. 

XXVIII. 

IT is very dangerous for a Prince, or Republike, 
to make continuall practice of cruell exaction : 
for, where the subject stands in sense, or expectation 
of evill, he is apt to provide for his safety, either 
from the evill he feeles, or from the danger he 
feares ; and growing bold in conspiracy, makes 
faction, which faction is the mother of ruine. 



XXIX. 

BE carefull to consider the good or ill disposi- 
tion of the people towards thee upon ordinary 
occasions : if it be good, labour to continue it ; if 
evill, provide against it: as there is nothing more 
terrible than a dissolute multitude without a Head ; 
so there is nothing more easie to be reduc'd; (if 
thou canst endure the first shock of their fury;) 
c 



1 8 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1 . 

which if a little appeas'd, every one begins to doubt 
himselfe, and think of home and secure themselves, 
either by flight, or agreement. 

XXX. 

nr^HAT Prince who stands in feare more of his 
-*- own people, than strangers, ought to build 
fortresses in his land : but he that is more afraid of 
strangers than his own people, shall build them 
more secure in the affections of his subjects. 

XXXI. 

CARRY a watchfull eye upon dangers before 
they come to ripenesse, and when they are 
ripe, let loose a speedy hand : he that expects them 
too long, or meets them too soon, gives advantage 
to the evill : commit their beginnings to Argus his 
hundred eyes, and their ends to Briareus his hun- 
dred hands, and thou art safe. 

XXXII. 

OF all the difficulties in a State, the temper of 
a true government most felicifies and per- 
petuates it : too sudden alterations distemper it. 
Had Nero tuned his kingdome as he did his harp, 
his harmony had been more honourable, and his 
reign more prosperous. 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 19 

XXXIII. 

IF a Prince, fearing to be assail'd by a forreigne 
enemy, hath a well-arm' d people, well addrest 
for war, let him stay at home and expect him there : 
but if his subjects be unarm'd, or his kingdome un- 
acquainted with the stroke of war, let him meet the 
enemy in his quarters. The farther he keeps the 
warre from his own home the lesse danger. The 
seat of war is alwayes miserable. 

XXXIV. 

IT is a necessary wisedome for a Prince to grow 
in strength, as he encreases in dominions : it is 
no less vertue to keep, than to get : conquests not 
having power answerable to their greatnesse, invite 
new conquerors to the ruine of the old. 

XXXV. 

IT is great prudence in a statesman, to discover 
an inconvenience in the birth ; which, so dis- 
covered, is easie to be supprest : but if it ripen into 
a custome, the sudden remedy thereof is often worse 
than the disease : in such a case, it is better to 
temporize a little, than to struggle too much. He 
that opposes a full-aged inconvenience too suddenly, 
strengthens it. 



20 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1. 

XXXVI. 

IF thou hast conquer'd a land, whose language 
differs not from thine, change not their lawes 
and taxes, and the two kingdomes will in a short 
time incorporate, and make one body. But if the 
lawes and language differ, it is difficult to maintain 
thy conquest ; which that thou maist the easier doe, 
observe three things : first, to live there in person, 
(or rather send colonies :) secondly, to assist the 
weak inhabitants, and weaken the mighty : thirdly, 
to admit no powerfull foreigner to reside there : 
remember Lewis the thirteenth of France ; how 
suddenly he took Milan, and how soon he lost it. 

XXXVII. 

IT is a gracious wisdom in a Prince, in civill 
commotions, rather to use juleps, than phle- 
botomy ; and better to breathe the distemper by a 
wise delay, than to correct it with too rash an onset : 
it is more honourable, by a slow preparation to de- 
clare himselfe a gracious father, than by a hasty 
warre to appeare a furious enemy. 

XXXVIII. 

IT is wisdome for a Prince in faire weather to 
provide for tempests : he that so much relies 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 21 

upon his people's faith, to neglect his own prepa- 
ration, discovers more confidence than wisdome : 
he that ventures to fall from above; with hopes to 
be catcht below, may be dead ere hee come to 
ground. 



XXXIX. 

HE that would reform an ancient State in a free 
City buyes convenience with a great danger : 
to work this reformation with the lesse mischiefe, 
let such a one keep the shadowes of their ancient 
customes, though in substance they be new : let 
him take heed when hee alters the natures of things, 
they bear at least the ancient names. The com- 
mon people, that are naturally impatient of innova- 
tions, will be satisfied with that which seems to be 
as well as that which is. 



XL. 

UPON any difference between forreigne States, 
it is neither safe nor honourable for a Prince, 
either to buy his peace, or to take it up at interest : 
he that hath not a sword to command it, shall 
either want it or want honour with it. 



22 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 1. 

XLI. 

IT is very requisite for a Prince, not onely to 
weigh his designes in the flower, but likewise 
in the fruit : he is an unthrift of his honour that 
enterprizes a designe, the failing wherein may bring 
him more disgrace, than the successe can gain him 
honour. 

XLII. 

IT is much conducible to the happinesse of a 
Prince, and the security of his State, to gain 
the hearts of his subjects ; they that love for feare, 
will seldome feare for love : it is a wise government 
which gaines such a tye upon the subject, that he 
either cannot hurt, or will not : but that government 
is best and most sure, when the subject joyes in his 
obedience. 

XLIII. 

LET every souldier arme his mind with hopes, 
and put on courage : whatsoever disaster falls, 
let not his heart sinke. The passage of providence 
lyes through many crooked wayes; a despairing 
heart is the true prophet of approaching evil : his 
actions may weave the webs of fortune, but not 
break them. 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 23 

XLIV. 

IT is the part of a wise Magistrate to vindicate a 
man of power or State-imployment from the 
malicious scandals of the giddy-headed multitude, 
and to punish it with great severity : scandall 
breeds hatred ; hatred begets division ; division 
makes faction, and faction brings ruine. 



XLV. 

THE strongest castles a Prince can build, to 
secure him from domesticke commotions, or 
forreigne invasions, is in the hearts of his subjects ; 
and the meanes to gain that strength is, in all his 
actions to appeare for the publicke good, studious 
to contrive, and resolute to performe. 

XL VI. 

AKINGDOME is a great building, whose two 
maine supporters are the government of the 
State, and the government of the Church: it is the 
part of a wise master to keepe those pillars in their 
first posture, irremoveable : if either faile, it is 
wisedome rather to repaire it, than remove it : he 
that puis downe the old, to set up a new, may draw 
the roofe upon his head, and ruine the foundation. 



24 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1. 

XL VII. 

IT is necessary wisdome in a Prince to encourage 
in his kingdome, manufacture, merchandize, 
arts, and armes. In manufacture lye the vitall 
spirits of the body politique : in merchandize, the 
spirits naturall ; in arts and armes, the animall : if 
either of these languish, the body droopes : as these 
nourish, the body nourishes. 

XL VIII. 

TRUE Religion is a settler in a State, rather 
than a stickler ; while shee confirms an esta- 
blisht government, she moves in her own sphere : 
but when she endeavours to alter the old, or to 
erect a new, she workes out of her owne vineyard : 
when she keepes the keyes, she sendes showers of 
milke ; but when she drawes the sword, she sayles 
in seas of bloud : labour therefore to settle religion 
in the church ; and religion shall settle peace in 
thy land. 

XLIX. 

IF thou entertaine any forraigne souldiers into 
thine army, let them beare thy colours, and be 
at thy pay, lest they interest their owne Prince : 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 25 

auxiliary souldiers are the most dangerous : a for- 
raigne Prince needs no greater invitation to seize 
upon thy city, than when he is required to defend it. 



BE cautious in undertaking a designe, upon the 
report of those that are banished their coun- 
trey, lest thou come off with shame or losse, or 
both. Their end expects advantages from thy 
actions, whose miseries lay hold of all opportunities, 
and seeke to be redrest by thy ruine. 



LI. 

IF thou endeavourest to make a republique in a 
nation where the gentry abounds, thou shalt 
hardly prosper in that designe : and if thou wouldest 
erect a principality in a land, where there is much 
equality of people, thou shalt not easily effect it. 
The way to bring the first to passe, is to weaken 
the gentry: the meanes to effect the last, is to ad- 
vance and strengthen ambitious and turbulent 
spirits; so that being placed in the midst of them, 
their forces may maintaine thy power; and thy 
favour may preserve their ambition : otherwise 
there shall be neither proportion nor continuance. 



26 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 1. 

LII. 

IT is more excellent for a Prince to have a pro- 
vident eye for the preventing future mischiefes, 
than to have a potent arme for the suppressing 
present evils : mischiefes in a State are like hec- 
tique feavers in a body : in the beginning hard to 
be knowne, but easie to be cured ; but, let it alone 
a while, it becomes more easie to be knowne, but 
more hard to be cured. 



LIIL 

IF a kingdome be apt to rebellion it is wisedome 
to preserve the Nobility and Commons at vari- 
ance : where one of them is discontented, the danger 
is not great : the Commons are slow of motion, if 
not quickned with the Nobility ; the Nobility is 
weake of power, if not strengthened by the Com- 
mons : then is danger, when the Commonalty 
troubles the water, and the Nobility steps in. 

LIV. 

IT is very requisite for a Prince to have an eye 
that the Clergy be elected and come in, either 
by collation from him, or particular patrons, and 
not by the People ; and that their power hold 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 27 

dependance upon home, and not forreign authority : 
it is dangerous in a kingdome, where the Crosiars 
receive not their power from the regall sword. 



LV. 

IT is a perillous weaknesse in a state, to be slow 
of resolution in the time of warre : to be irreso- 
lute in determination is both the signe, and the 
ruine of a weake state : such affaires attend not 
time : let the wise statesman therefore abhor delay, 
and resolve rather what to doe, than advise what 
to say : slow deliberations are symptomes, either of 
a faint courage, or weake forces, or false hearts. 

LVI. 

IF a conquerour hath subdued a country, or a city 
abounding with pleasures, let him be very 
circumspect to keepe himselfe and his souldiers 
temperate. Pleasures bring effeminacy ; and effe- 
minacy fore-runs ruine : such conquests, without 
blood or sweat, sufficiently do revenge themselves 
upon their intemperate conquerours. 



I 



LVII. 

T is an infallible signe of approaching ruine in a 
republike, when religion is neglected, and her 



28 ENCHIRIDION. Cent, 1. 

establisht ceremonies interrupted : let therefore that 
Prince that would be potent, be pious ; and that 
he may punish looseness the better, let him be re- 
ligious: the joy of Jerusalem depends upon the 
peace of Sion. 



LVIII. 

LET that Prince that desires full soveraignty, 
temper the greatnesse of too potent a Nobi- 
lity : a great and potent Nobility quickens the 
people, but presses their fortunes: it adds majesty 
to a Monarch, but diminishes his power. 



LIX. 

IT is dangerous for a Prince to use ambitious 
Natures, but upon necessity, either for his 
warres, or to be skreens to his dangers, or to be 
instruments for the demolishing insolent great- 
nesse : and that they may be the lesse dangerous, 
let him chuse them rather out of meane births than 
noble ; and out of harsh natures, rather than plau- 
sible. And alwayes be sure to ballance them with 
those that are as proud as they. 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 29 

LX. 

LET Princes be very circumspect in the choyce 
of their Councellours, chusing neither by the 
greatnesse of the beard, nor by the smoothnesse of 
the face : let him be wise, but not crafty : active, 
without private ends : couragious, without malice : 
religious, without faction : secret without fraud ; 
one better read in his Prince's businesse, than his 
Nature : and a riddle only to be read above. 

LXI. 

IN a mixt monarchy, if the hierarchy grow too 
absolute, it is wisedome in a Prince, rather to 
depresse it than suppresse it : all alterations in a 
fundamentall Government bring apparent dangers ; 
but too sudden alteration threatens inevitable ruine : 
when Aaron made a moulten calfe, Moses altered 
not the government, but reproved the governour. 

LXII. 

BEFORE thou build a fortresse, consider to 
what end : if for resistance against the enemy, 
it is uselesse ; a valiant army is a living fortresse : 
if for suppressing the subject, it is hurtfull : it 
breeds jealousies, and jealousies beget hatred : if 



30 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 1. 

thou hast a strong army to maintain it, it adds 
nothing to thy strength : if thy army be weake it 
conduces much to thy danger : the surest fortresse 
is the hands of thy souldiers, and the safest citadell 
is the hearts of thy subjects. 



LXIII. 

IT is a princely alchymie, out of a necessary 
warre to extract an honourable peace, and more 
beseeming the majesty of a prince to thirst after 
peace, than conquest : blessednesse is promis't to 
the peace-maker; not to the conquerour: it is a 
happy state, whose Prince hath a peacefull hand, 
and a martiall heart, able both to use peace, and to 
manage warre. 

LXIV. 

IT is a dishonourable thing for a Prince to runne 
in debt for state service ; but to pay it in the 
pardon of a criminall offence, is most dangerous. 
To cancell the faults of subjects, with their deserts, 
is not only the symptome of a disordered common- 
wealth, but also of her mine. 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 31 

LXV. 

LET not a commander be too forward to under- 
take a warre, without the person of his prince : 
it is a thanklesse imployment, where mischiefe 
attends upon the best successe ; and where (if a 
conquerour) he shall be in danger, either through 
his owne ambition, or his Prince's suspition. 

LXVI. 

IT is a great oversight in a Prince, for any re- 
spects, either actively or passively, to make a 
forreigne kingdome strong : he that gives meanes 
to another to become powerfull weakens himselfe, 
and enables him to take the advantage of his own 
weaknesse. 

LXVIL 

WHEN the humours of the people are stirr'd 
by discontents, or popular griefe, it is wis- 
dom e in a Prince to give them moderate liberty to 
evaporate : he that turnes the humour backe too 
hastily makes the wound bleed inwardly, and fills 
the body with malignity. 



32 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1. 



i 



LXVIII. 

F having levyed an army, thou findest thy selfe 
too weake, either through the want of men or 
mony ; the longer thou delayst to fight, the greater 
thy inconvenience growes; if once thy army falls 
asunder, thou certainly losest by thy delay : where 
hazarding thy fortunes betimes, thou hast the ad- 
vantage of thy men, and mayst by fortune winne 
the day : it is lesse dishonour to bee overcome by 
force than by flight. 



LXIX. 

IT is the part of a wise commander in warres, 
either offensive or defensive, to work a necessity 
of fighting into the brests of his souldiers : ne- 
cessity of action takes away the feare of the act, 
and makes bold resolution the favorite of fortune. 



LXX. 

CLEMENCY and mildnesse is most proper for 
a principality, but reservednesse and severity 
for a republique ; but moderation in both : excesse 
in the one breeds contempt: in the other, hatred; 
when to sharpen the first, and when to sweeten the 
last, let time and occasion direct thy judgement. 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 33 

LXXI. 

IT is very requisite for a Prince that desires the 
continuance of peace, in time of peace to encou- 
rage, and respect his commanders ; when brave 
spirits finde neglect to be the effect of quiet times, 
they devise all meanes to remove the cause, and by 
suggesting inducements to new warres, disturb and 
unsettle the old peace, buying private honour with 
publique danger, 

LXXII. 

BE not covetous for priority in advising thy 
Prince to a doubtful attempt, which concernes 
his state : if it prosper, the glory must be his ; if it 
faile, the dishonour will be thine : when the spirit 
of a Prince is stopped in the discharge, it will re- 
coyle and wound the first adviser. 



LXXIIL 

IF being the commander of an army, thou espiest 
a grosse and manifest error in thine enemy, 
look well to thy selfe, for treachery is not farre off : 
hee whom desire of victory blinds too much is apt 
to stumble at his owne ruine. 



34 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. I. 

LXXIV. 

IT is the height of a provident commander not 
only to keep his own designes indiscoverable to 
his enemy ; but likewise to be studious to discover 
his : he that can best doe the one, and nearest 
guesse at the other, is the next step to a conqueror. 
But he that failes in both, must either ascribe his 
overthrow to his owne folly, or his victory to the 
hand of fortune. 



LXXV. 

IF thou be ambitious of honour, and yet fearfull 
of the canker of honour, envy ; so behave thy 
selfe, that opinion may be satisfied in this, that thou 
seekest merit, and not fame ; and that thou attri- 
butest thy preferment rather to providence, than 
thy own vertue : honour is a due debt to the de- 
server : and who ever envied the payment of a 
debt ? a just advancement is a providentiall act ; 
and who ever envied the act of Providence ? 



LXXVI. 

T behoves a Prince to bee very circumspect 
before hee make a league ; which, being made, 
and then broke, is the forfeiture of his honour : he 



i 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 35 

that obtaines a kingdome with the rupture of his 
faith, hath gain'd the glory of a conquest, but lost 
the honour of a conquerour. 



L 



LXXVIL 

ET states that aim at greatnesse, beware lest 
new gentry multiply too fast, or grow too 
glorious ; where there is too great a disproportion 
betwixt the gentry and the common subject, the 
one growes insolent, the other slavish : w T hen the 
body of the gentry growes too glorious for a corslet, 
there the heads of the vulgar waxe too heavy for 
the helmet. 



LXXVIII. 

UPON the beleaguering of a city, let the com- 
mander endeavour to take from the defend- 
ants, all scruples which may invite them to a neces- 
sity of defence : whom the feare of slavery necessi- 
tates to fight, the boldnesse of their resolution will 
disadvantage the assaylants, and difiicilitate their 
design : sense of necessity justifies the warre ; and 
they are hopefull in their armes, who have no other 
hope but in their armes. 



36 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1. 

LXXIX. 

TT is good for States and Princes (if they use 
-*- ambitious men for their advantage) so to order 
things, that they be still progressive, rather than 
retrograde : when ambitious men finde an open 
passage, they are rather busie than dangerous ; and 
if well watcht in their proceedings, they will catch 
themselves in their own snare, and prepare a way 
for their own destruction. 



LXXX. 

OF all recreations, hunting is most proper to a 
commander; by the frequency whereof he 
may be instructed in that necessary knowledge of 
situation, with pleasure ; which, by earnest experi- 
ence, would be dearly purchas'd. The chase is a 
faire resemblance of a hopefull warre, proposing to 
the pursuer a flying enemy. 

LXXXI. 

EXPECT the army of thy enemy on plain and 
easie ground, and still avoyd mountainous and 
rocky places, and straight passages, to the utmost 
of thy power: it is not safe to pitch any where, 
where thy forces cannot be brought together: he 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 37 

never deserved the name of good gamester, that 
hazards his whole rest, upon lesse than the strength 
of his whole game. 

LXXXXI. 

IT matters not much whether in government, 
thou tread the steps of severe Hannibal, or 
gentle Seipio, so thy actions be honourable, and 
thy life vertuous : both in the one, and the other, 
there is both defect and danger, if not corrected, 
and supported by the faire repute of some extra- 
ordinary endowments : no matter, whether black 
or white, so the steed be good. 

LXXXIII. 

IT is the safest way in a martiall expedition, to 
commit the maine charge to one : companions 
in command beget confusion in the campe : when 
two able commanders are joyned in equall com- 
mission, each is apt to think his own way best, and 
by mutuall thwarting each other, both give oppor- 
tunity to the enemy. 

LXXXIV. 

IT is a high point of providence in a Prince to 
observe popular sects in their first rise, and 



38 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1. 

with a severe hand, to nippe them in the budde : 
but being once full aged, it is wisdome not to op- 
pose them with too strong a hand ; lest in suppress- 
ing one, there arise two: a soft current is soon 
stopped ; but a strong streame resisted, breaks into 
many, or overwhelmes all. 



LXXXV. 

IT makes very much to thy advantage to observe 
strictly the nationall vertues, and vices, and 
humours of forreign kingdomes, whereby the times 
past shall read usefull lectures to the times present : 
he that would see what shall be, let him consider 
what hath been. 



LXXXVL 

IF, like Manlius, thou command stout and great 
things, bee like Manlius stout to execute great 
commands : it is a great blemish in soveraignty 
when the will roares, and the power whispers : if 
thou canst not execute as freely as thou commandst, 
command no more than what thou mayst as freely 
execute. 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 39 

LXXXVII. 

IF one Prince desire to obtaine any thing of 
another, let him (if occasion will beare it) give 
him no time to advise : let him endeavour to make 
him see a necessity of sudden resolution, and the 
danger either of deniall, or delay; hee that gives 
time to resolve, gives leasure to deny, and warning 
to prepare. 

LXXXVIII. 

LET not thine army at the first encounter be 
too prodigall in her assaults, but husband her 
strength for a dead lift: when the enemy hath 
abated the fury of his first heat ; let him then feel 
thou hast reserved thy forces for the last blow ; so 
shall the honour he hath gained by his valour en- 
crease the glory of thy victory : fore-games when 
they prove, are speediest, but after-games, if wisely 
played, are surest. 

LXXXIX. 

IT is very requisite for a Prince to keep the 
Church alwayes in proportion to the State. If 
the Government of the one be monarchicall, and 
the other democraticall, they will agree, like metall 



40 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1. 

joyned with clay, but for a while. Durable is that 
State, where Aaron commands the people, and 
where Moses commands Aaron : but most happy in 
the continuance, where God commands both. 



.XC. 

LET not the covetousnesse of a captaine pur- 
loyne to his owne use, or any way bereave 
his souldiers of any profit due unto their service, 
either in their meanes or spoyles : such injuries 
(being quickn'd by their dayly necessities) are 
never forgot : what souldiers earne with the hazard 
of their lives, (if not enjoy 'd) prophesies an over- 
throw in the next battell. 



XCI. 

IF a Prince expect vertuous subjects, let his 
subjects have a vertuous prince ; so shall he 
the better punish the vices of his degenerate sub- 
jects ; so shall they trulier prize vertue, and follow 
it, being exemplified in their Prince. 



I 



XCII. 

T is the property of a wise commander, to cast 
an eye rather upon actions, than upon persons ; 



Cent. I. ENCHIRIDION. 41 

and rather to reward the merits of men than to read 
the letters of ladies : he that for favour, or reward, 
preferres a worthlesse souldier, betrayes a kingdome, 
to advance a traytor. 



XCIII. 

WHERE order and fury are well acquainted, 
the warre prospers, and souldiers end no 
lesse men than they begunne : order is quickened 
by fury, and fury is regulated by order : but where 
order is wanting, fury runs her own way, and being 
an unthrift of its owne strength, failing in the first 
assault, cravens ; and such beginning more than 
men, end lesse than women. 



XCIV. 

IT is the quality of a wise commander, to make 
his souldiers confident of his wisdome, and their 
own strength : if any danger be, to conceale it ; if 
manifest, to lessen it : let him possesse his army 
with the justnesse of the warre, and with a certainty 
of the victory. A good cause makes a stout heart, 
and a strong arme. They that feare an overthrow, 
are balfe conquered. 



42 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 1. 



XCV. 

IT is requisite in a generall to mingle love with 
the severity of his discipline : they that cannot 
be induced to feare for love, will never be inforced 
to love for feare : love opens the heart, feare shuts 
it : that encourages, this compelles : and victory 
meets encouragement, but flees compulsion. 



XCVI. 

IT is the part of a well advised State never to 
entrust a weighty service, unto whom a noted 
injury or dishonour hath been done ; hee can never 
bee zealous in performance of service, the height of 
whose expectation can rather recover a lost name, 
than gaine a fresh honour. 



XCVII. 

THREE wayes there be to begin a repute, and 
gain dignities in a Common-wealth : the first 
by the vertue of glorious parents, which, till thou 
degenerate too much, may raise thee upon the wings 
of opinion : the second is by associating with those, 
whose actions are known eminent: the third, by 
acting some exploit, either publique or private, 



Cent. 1. ENCHIRIDION. 43 

which in thy hand hath proved honourable. The 
two first may misse, being founded on opinion : the 
last seldome failes, being* grounded upon evidence. 



XCVIII. 

IF thou art call'd to the dignity of a commander, 
dignify thy place by thy commands : and that 
thou mayst be the more perfect in commanding 
others, practice upon thy selfe : remember, thou 
art a servant to the publike weale, and therefore 
forget all private respects, either of kin or friend : 
remember thou art a champion for a kingdome ; 
forget therefore all private affections either of love 
or hate : he that would do his country right, must 
not be too sensible of a personall wrong. 

XCIX. 

IT is the part of a wise commander to read books, 
not so much as men ; nor men so much as 
nations : he that can discern the inclinations, con- 
ditions, and passions of a kingdome, gaines his 
Prince a great advantage both in peace and warre. 



A 



ND you, most high and mighty Princes of 
this lower world, who at this intricate and 



44 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 1. 

various game of warre, vye kingdomes, and whine 
crownes ; and by the death of your renowned sub- 
jects, gaine the lives of your bold-hearted enemies ; 
know there is a Quo Warranto, whereto you are 
to give account of your eye-glorious actions, ac- 
cording to the righteous rules of sacred justice : 
how warrantable it is to rend imperiall crownes 
from off the soveraign heads of their too weake 
possessours ; or to snatch scepters from out the 
conquer'd hand of heaven-anointed majesty, and by 
your vast ambitions still to enlarge your large do- 
minions, with kingdomes ravisht from their naturall 
princes, judge you. O let your brave designs, and 
well-weighed actions, be as just as ye are glorious ; 
and consider, that all your warres, whose ends are 
not to defend your own possessions, or to recover 
your dispossessions, are but princely injuries, which 
none but heaven can right. But where necessity 
strikes up her hard alarmes, or wrong'd religion 
beats her zealous marches, go on, and prosper, and 
let both swords and stratagems proclaim a victory, 
whose noys'd renown may fill the world with your 
eternall glory. 



ENCHIRIDION. 



THE SECOND BOOK. 



TO THE 

EAIRE BRANCH OE GROWING HONOUR 

AND TRUE VIRTUE, 

MRS. ELIZABETH USHER, 

Only Daughter and Heir apparent to the most Ueverend 

Father in God, James, Arch-Bishop of Armagh, 

Lord Primate of all Ireland, his Grace. 

Sweet Lady, 

PRESENT your faire hands with 
this my Enchiridion, to begin a new- 
Decade of our blest accompt : if it 
adde nothing to your well-instructed 
knowledge, it may bring somewhat to your well- 
disposed remembrance : if either, I have my end ; 
and you, my endeavour : the service which I owe, 
and the affection which I bear your most incom- 
parable parents, challenges the utmost of my ability ; 
wherein, if I could light you but the least step to- 




48 DEDICATION. 

wards the happinesse you ayme at, how happy 
should I be ? goe forward in the way which you 
have chosen : wherein, if ray hand cannot lead you, 
my heart shall follow you ; and where the weak- 
nesse of my power shews defect, there the vigour 
of my will shall make supply. 

Who am covetous of your happinesse in both 
Kingdomes and Worlds, 

Fra. Quarles. 




ENCHIRIDION. 



CENT. II. 




PROMISE is a child of the under- 
standing and the will: the under- 
standing begets it, the will brings it 
forth : he that performes it, delivers 
the mother : he that breakes it, murthers the child. 
If he be begotten in the absence of the understand- 
ing, it is a bastard ; but the child must be kept. If 
thou mistrust thy understanding, promise not; if 
thou hast promised, break it not ; it is better to 
maintain a bastard than to murther a child. 



II. 

CHARITY is a naked child, giving hony to a 
bee without wings ; naked, because excuse- 
lesse and simple ; a child, because tender and 

E 



50 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

growing: giving hony, because hony is pleasant 
and comfortable : to a bee, because a bee is labo- 
rious and deserving : without wings, because help- 
lesse, and wanting. If thou deniest to such thou 
killest a bee; if thou givest to other than such, 
thou preservest a drone. 



III. 

BEFORE thy undertaking of any design e, 
weigh the glory of thy action with the danger 
of the attempt : if the glory outweigh the danger, 
it is cowardize to neglect it : if the danger exceed 
the glory, it is rashnesse to attempt it: if the 
balances stand poized, let thy owne genius cast 
them. 



IV. 

WOULD EST thou know the lawfulnesse of 
the action which thou desirest to undertake ? 
let thy devotion recommend it to divine blessing : 
if it be lawfull, thou shalt perceive thy heart en- 
couraged by thy prayer: if unlawfull, thou shalt 
fiude thy prayer discourag'd by thy heart. That 
action is not warrantable, which either blushes to 
begge a blessing, or having succeeded, dares not 
present thanksgiving. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 51 



IF evill men speake good, or good men evill of 
thy conversation, examine all thy actions, and 
suspect thyselfe. But if evill men speake evill of 
thee, hold it as thy honour, and by way of thanke- 
fulnesse, love them, but upon condition, that they 
continue to hate thee. 



VI. 

IF thou hope to please all, thy hopes are vaine ; 
if thou feare to displease some, thy feares are 
idle. The way to please thy selfe is not to displease 
the best; and the way to displease the best, is to 
please the most : if thou canst fashion thy selfe to 
please all, thou shalt displease him that is All in All. 



VII. 

IF thou neglectest thy love to thy neighbour, in 
vain thou professest thy love to God : for by 
thy love to God, the love to thy neighbour is be- 
gotten, and by the love to thy neighbour, thy love 
to God is nourisht. 



52 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

VIII. 

THY ignorance in unrepealed mysteries, is the 
mother of a saving faith ; and thy understand- 
ing in revealed truths, is the mother of a sacred 
knowledge : understand not therefore that thou 
maist believe, but beleeve that thou maist under- 
stand : understanding is the wages of a lively faith, 
and faith is the reward of an humble ignorance. 

IX. 

PRIDE is the ape of charity, in show, not much 
unlike ; but somewhat fuller of action. In 
seeking the one, take heed thou light not upon the 
other : they are two parallels ; never but asunder : 
charity feeds the poore, so does pride: charity 
builds an hospitall, so does pride: in this they 
differ : charity gives her glory to God ; pride takes 
her glory from man. 

X. 

HAST thou lost thy money, and dost thou 
mourne? another lost it before thou hadst 
it ; be not troubled ; perchance if thou hadst not 
lost it now, it had lost thee for ever : thinke there- 
fore what thou rather hast escaped than lost : per- 
haps thou hadst not been so much thy own, had 
not thy money beene so little thine. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 53 



XL 

FLATTER not thy selfe in thy faith to God, if 
thou wantest charity for thy neighbour ; and 
thinke not thou hast charity for thy neighbour, if 
thou wantest faith to God; where they are not 
both together, they are both wanting ; they are 
both dead, if once divided. 



B 



XII. 

E not too slow in the breaking of a sinfull 
custome : a quick couragious resolution is 
better than a graduall deliberation : in such a coin- 
bate, he is the bravest souldier that layes about 
him without feare or wit. Wit pleades ; feare dis- 
heartens ; he that would kill Hydra, had better 
strike off one neck than five heads : fell the tree, 
and the branches are soone cut off. 



XIII. 

BE carefull rather of what thou dost, than of 
what thou hast : for what thou hast is none 
of thine, and will leave thee at thy death, or thou 
the pleasure of it, in thy sickenesse. But what thou 
dost, is thine, and will follow thee to thy grave, and 
plead for thee or against thee at thy resurrection. 



54 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

XIV. 

IF thou enjoyest not the God of love, thou canst 
not obtaine the love of God, neither untill then 
canst thou enjoy a desire to love God, nor relish 
the love of God : thy love to God is nothing* but a 
faint reflection of God's love to thee : till he please 
to love thee, thy love can never please him. 

XV. 

LET not thy fancy be guided by thine eye ; nor 
let thy will be governed by thy fancy : thine 
eye may be deceived in her object, and thy fancy 
may be deluded in her subject : let thy understand- 
ing moderate betweene thine eye, and thy fancy; 
and let thy judgement arbitrate between thy fancy 
and thy will ; so shall thy fancy apprehend what is 
true : so shall thy will elect what is good. 

XVI. 

ENDEAVOUR to subdue as well thy irascible, 
as thy concupiscible affections : to endure in- 
juries with a brave minde, is one halfe of the con- 
quest ; and to abstaine from pleasing evils with a 
couragious spirit is the other: the summe of all 
humanity, and height of morall perfection, is hear 
andforhear. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 55 

XVII. 

IF thou desire not to be too poore, desire not to 
be too rich : he is rich, not that possesses much, 
but he that covets no more : and he is poore, not 
that enjoy es little, but he that wants too much : the 
contented minde wants nothing which it hath not : 
the covetous mind wants not onely what it hath not, 
but likewise what it hath. 



XVIII. 

THE outward senses are the common Cinque- 
ports where every subject lands towards the 
understanding. The eare heares a confused noyse, 
and presents it to the common sense. The com- 
mon sense distinguishes the severall sounds, and 
conveys it to the fancy : the fancy wildly discants 
on it : the understanding (whose object is truth) 
apprehending it to be musicke, commends it to the 
judgement. The judgement severally and joyntly 
examines it, and recommends it to the will : the 
will (whose object is good) approves it, or dislikes 
it; and the memory records it. And so in the 
other senses according to their subjects. Observe 
this progresse, and thou shalt easily find where the 
defect of every action lyes. 



56 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 



XIX. 

THE way to subject all things to thy selfe, is 
to subject thy selfe to reason: thou shalt 
govern many, if reason governe thee : wouldst thou 
be crowned the Monarch of a little world ? com- 
mand thy selfe. 



XX. 

1 "THOUGH thou givest all thou hast for charity 
sake, and yet retainest a secret desire of 
keeping it for thy owne sake, thou rather leavest it 
than forsakest it: he that hath relinquisht all 
things, and not himselfe, hath forsaken nothing ; 
he that sets not his heart on what he possesses, for- 
saketh all things, though he keepe his possessions. 



XXI. 

O EARCH into thy selfe before thou accept the 
^ ceremony of honour : if thou art a palace, 
honour (like the sun-beames) will make thee more 
glorious : if thou art a dunghill, the sun may shine 
upon thee, but not sweeten thee. Thy Prince may 
give thee honour, but not make thee honourable. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 51 

XXII. 

EVERY man is a King in his owne kingdome. 
If reason command, and passion obey, his 
government speakes a good King : if thine inordi- 
nate affection rules, it shews a proud rebell ; which, 
if thou destroy not, will depose thee : there is no 
meane betweene the death of a Rebell, and the life 
of a Prince. 

XXIII. 

AVOW, a promise, and a resolution, have all 
one object, onely differ in respect of the per- 
sons to whom they are made ; the first is betweene 
God and man. The second, betweene man and 
man ; the third, between man and his owne soule ; 
they all bind, if the object be lawfull, to necessity 
of performance: if unlawful!, to the necessity of 
sinne : they all take thee prisoner : if the object 
be lawfull, thy performance hath redeem'd thee ; if 
unlawfull, blood and teares must ransome thee. 

XXIV. 

IF thou hast any businesse of consequence in 
agitation, let thy care be reasonable, and sea- 
sonable : continuall standing bent weakens the bow : 
too hasty drawing breaks it. Put off thy cares 
with thy cloathes : so shall thy rest strengthen thy 
labour ; and so shall thy labour sweeten thy rest. 



58 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

XXV. 

TTTHEN thy inordinate affections do flame to- 
* * wards transitory happinesse, quench them 
thus : thinke with thy selfe ; if my Prince should 
give me what honour he hath to bestow, or bestow 
on me what wealth he hath to give, it could not stay 
with me, because it is transitory; not I with it, 
because I am mortall: then revise thy affections, 
and weigh them with their object, and thou wilt 
either confesse thy folly, or make a wiser choice. 

XXVI. 

WITH three sorts of men enter no serious 
friendship : the ingratefull man ; the mul- 
tiloquious man ; the coward : the first cannot prize 
thy favours ; the second cannot keep thy counsell ; 
the third dare not vindicate thy honour. 

XXVII. 

IF thou desire the time should not passe too fast, 
use not too much pastime : thy life in jollity 
blazes like a tapour in the wind : the blast of honour 
wastes it, the heat of pleasure melts it; if thou 
labour in a painful calling, thou shalt be lesse 
sensible of the flux of time, and sweetlier satisfied 
at the time of death. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 59 

XXVIII. 

GOD is Alpha and Omega, in the great 
world; endeavour to make him so in the 
little world ; make him thy evening epilogue, and 
thy morning prologue : practice to make him thy 
last thought at night when thou sleepest ; and thy 
first thought in the morning when thou awakest : 
so shall thy fancy be sanctified in the night, and 
thy understanding rectified in the day ; so shall thy 
rest be peacefull, thy labours prosperous, thy life 
pious, and thy death glorious. 

XXIX. 

BE very circumspect in the choice of thy com- 
pany. In the society of thine equals thou 
shalt enjoy more pleasure; in the society of thy 
superiours thou shalt find more profit : to be the best 
in the company, is the way to grow worse : the best 
meanes to grow better, is to be the worst there. 

XXX. 

THINKE of God (especially in thy devotion) 
in the abstract, rather than the concrete : if 
thou conceive him good, thy finite thoughts are 
ready to terminate that good in a conceived subject ; 



60 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 2. 

if thou thinke him great, thy bounded conceipt is 
apt to cast him into a comprehensible figure : con- 
ceive him therefore, a diffused goodnesse without 
quality, and represent him an incomprehensible 
greatnesse without quantity. 



XXXI. 

T¥ thou and true religion be not as yet met; or 
-*- met, unknowne ; by these markes thou shalt 
discover it. First, it is a religion that takes no 
pleasure in the expence of blood. Secondly, it is a 
religion whose tenets crosse not the booke of truth. 
Thirdly, it is a religion, that takes most from the 
creature, and gives most to the creatour : if such a 
one thou meet with, assure thy selfe it is the right, 
and therefore professe it in thy life, and protect it 
to thy death. 



XXXII. 

LET another's passion be a lecture to thy rea- 
son, and let the shipwracke of his understand- 
ing be a seamarke to thy passion : so shalt thou 
gaine strength out of his weaknesse : safety out of 
his danger; and raise thy selfe a building out of 
his ruines. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 61 

XXXIII. 

IN the height of thy prosperity expect adversity, 
but feare it not; if it come not, thou art the 
more sweetly possest of the happinesse thou hast, 
and the more strongly confirmed; if it come, thou 
art the more gently dispossest of the happinesse 
thou hadst, and the more firmely prepared. 

XXXIV. 

TO tremble at the sight of thy sinne, makes thy 
faith the lesse apt to tremble : the devils be- 
leeve, and tremble, because they tremble at what 
they beleeve ; their beliefe brings trembling : thy 
trembling brings beliefe. 

XXXV. 

AUTHOLOGY is the way to Theology : until 
thou seest thy selfe empty, thou wilt not 
desire to be filled : he can never truly relish the 
sweetnesse of God's mercy, that never tasted the 
bitternesse of his owne misery. 

XXXVI. 

IS any outward affliction fallen upon thee, by a 
temporary losse ? advise with thy selfe, whether 



62 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 2. 

it be recoverable, or not: if it be, use all such 
lawfull and speedy meanes (the violence and un- 
seasonablenesse whereof may not disadvantage thee 
in the pursuit) to recover it ; if not recoverable, 
endure with patience what thou canst not recure 
with paines : he that carnally afflicts his soul for 
the losse of a transitory good, casts away the kirn ell, 
because he hath lost the shell. 



XXXVII. 

NATURALL anger glances into the breasts 
of wise men, but rests in the bosome of 
fooles : in them, it is infirmity ; in these, a sinne : 
there is a naturall anger ; and there is a spirituall 
anger ; the common object of that, is the person ; 
of this, his vice : he that is alwayes angry with his 
sinne, shall seldome sinne in his anger. 



XXXVIII. 

IF any hard affliction hath surprized thee, cast 
one eye upon the hand that sent it ; and the 
other, upon the sin that brought it ; if thou thanke- 
fully receive the message, he that sent it will dis- 
charge the messenger. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 63 

XXXIX. 

ALL passions are good or bad, according to 
their objects: where the object is absolutely- 
good, there the greatest passion is too little : where 
absolutely evill, there the least passion is too much : 
where indifferent, there a little is enough. 



XL. 

WHEN thou dost evil that good may come 
thereby, the evill is surely thine: if good 
should happen to ensue upon the evill which thou 
hast done, the good proceeds from God ; if there- 
fore thou doe evill, thereby to occasionate a good, 
thou layst a bad foundation for a good building ; 
and servest the Devill that God may serve thee : 
where the end of evill is good in the intention, there 
the end of that good is evill in the extention. 



XLI. 

BE as farre from desiring the popular love, as 
fearfull to deserve the popular hate : mine 
dwels in both : the one will hug thee to death ; the 
other will crush thee to destruction : to escape the 
first, be not ambitious ; to avoid the second, be not 
seditious. 



64 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 2. 



XLII. 

WHEN thou seest misery in thy brother's face, 
let him see mercy in thine eye ; the more 
the oyle of mercy is powred on him by thy pity, the 
more the oyle in thy cruse shall be encreased by 
thy piety. 



XLIII. 

READE not bookes alone, but men, and 
amongst them chiefly thy selfe : if thou find 
any thing questionable there, use the commentary 
of a severe friend, rather than the glosse of a sweet- 
lipt flatterer : there is more profit in a distastfull 
truth, than deceitfull sweetnesse. 

XLIV. 

IF the opinion of thy worth invite any to the 
desire of thy acquaintance, yeeld him a respect 
suitable to his quality : too great a reservation will 
expose thee to the sentence of pride ; too easie ac- 
cesse will condemne thee to the censure of folly : 
things, too hardly endeavoured, discourage the 
seeker : too easily obtained, disparage the thing 
sought for: too easily got, is lowly prized, and 
quickly lost. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 65 

XLV. 

WHEN conveniency of time hath ripened your 
acquaintance, be cautious what thou say'st, 
and courteous in what thou do'st : observe his 
inclination : if thou find him weight, make him 
thine owne, and lodge him in a faithfull bosome : 
be not rashly exceptious, nor rudely familiar : the 
one will breed contention ; the other contempt. 

XLVI; 

WHEN passion is grounded upon fancie, it is 
commonly but of short continuance : where 
the foundation is unstable, there the building is not 
lasting ; he that will be angry for any cause, will be 
angry for no cause ; and when the understanding 
perceives the cause vain, then the judgement pro- 
claimes the effect voyd. 

XLVII. 

IF thou desire to purchase honour with thy 
wealth ; consider first how that wealth became 
thine : if thy labour got it, let thy wisdome keep 
it : if oppression found it, let repentance restore it : 
if thy parent left it, let thy vertues deserve it : so 
shall thy honour be safer, better, and cheaper. 



66 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

XL VIII. 

O INNE is a basiliske whose eyes are full of 
^ venome, if the eye of thy soule see her first, it 
reflects her own poyson and kills her : if she see 
thy soule, unseen, or seen too late, with her poyson, 
she kills thee: since therefore thou canst not 
escape thy sinne, let not thy sinne escape thy ob- 
servation. 

XLIX. 

IF thou expectest to rise by the means of him 
whom thy father's greatnesse raised from his 
service to court preferment, thou wilt be deceived : 
for the more in esteem thou art, the more sensible 
is he of what he was, whose former servitude will 
be chronicled by thy advancement, and glory ob- 
scured by thy greatness : however he will conceive 
it a dead service, which may be interpreted by thee, 
as a merited reward, rather than a meritorious 
benefit. 



L. 

TRUST not to the promise of a common 
swearer, for he that dare sin against his God, 
for neither profit nor pleasure, will trespasse against 
thee for his own advantage. He that dare break 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 67 

the precepts of his father, will easily be perswaded 
to violate the promise unto his brother. 



LI. 

LET the greatest part of the newes thou nearest 
be the least part of what thou beleevest, lest 
the greatest part of what thou beleevest be the least 
part of what is true. Where lies are easily admitted, 
the father of lies will not easily be excluded. 



LIL 

DELIBERATE long, before thou consecrate 
a friend ; and when thy impartiall judgement 
concludes him worthy of thy bosome, receive him 
joyfully, and entertaine him wisely : impart thy 
secrets boldly, and mingle thy thoughts with his : 
he is thy very selfe ; and use him so : if thou firmly 
think him faithfull, thou makest him so. 



Lin. 

AS there is no worldly gain, without some losse, 
so there is no worldly losse without some 
gaine. If thou hast lost thy wealth, thou hast lost 
some trouble with it : if thou art degraded from thy 
honour, thou art likewise freed from the stroke of 



68 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

envie ; if sicknesse hath blurred thy beauty, it hath 
delivered thee from pride. Set the allowance 
against the losse, and thou shalt find no losse great ; 
he loses little or nothing, that reserves himselfe. 



LIV. 

IF thou desire to take the best advantage of thy 
selfe (especially in matters where the fancy is 
most imployed) keep temperate diet, use moderate 
exercise, observe seasonable, and set houres for 
rest ; let the end of thy first sleep raise thee from 
thy repose : then hath thy body the best temper ; 
then hath thy soule the least incumberance : then 
no noyse shall disturbe thy eare ; no object shall 
divert thine eye : then, if thy sprightly fancie trans- 
port thee not beyond the common pitch, and shew 
thee not the magazin of high invention, return thee 
to thy wanton bed, and there conclude thy selfe 
more fit to wear thy mistresse's favour, than 
Apollo's bayes. 



LV. 

IF thou art rich, strive to command thy mony, 
lest she command thee : if thou know how to 
use her, she is thy servant : if not, thou art her 
slave. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 69 

LVL 

BRING thy daughter a husband of her own 
religion, and of no hereditary disease ; let his 
wisdome outweigh his wealth : let his parentage 
excell his person, and let his yeares exceed hers : 
let thy prayers recommend the rest to providence : 
if he prove, thou hast found a sonne : if not, thou 
hast lost a daughter. 

LVII. 

SO use prosperity, that adversity may not abuse 
thee : if in the one, security admits no feares ; 
in the other, despaire will afford no hopes : he that 
in prosperity can foretell a danger, can in adversity 
foresee deliverance. 



LVIII. 

IF thy faith have no doubts, thou hast just cause 
to doubt thy faith ; and if thy doubts have no 
hope, thou hast just reason to feare despair ; when 
therfore thy doubts shall exercise thy faith, keep 
thy hopes firme to qualifie thy doubts ; so shall thy 
faith be secured from doubts : so shall thy doubts 
be preserved from despaire. 



70 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

LIX. 

IF thou desire to be truly valiant, feare to doe 
any injury : he that feares not to doe evill, is 
alwayes afraid to suffer evill : he that never feares 
is desperate : and he that feares . alwayes, is a 
coward : he is the true valiant man, that dares 
nothing but what he may, and feares nothing but 
what he ought. 

LX. 

ANGER may repast with thee for an houre, 
but not repose for a night : the continuance 
of anger is hatred, the continuance of hatred turns 
malice. That anger is not warrantable, which hath 
seen two sunnes. 

LXI. 

IF thou stand guilty of oppression, or wrongfully 
possest of another's right; see, thou make 
restitution before thou givest an almes : if other- 
wise, what art thou but a thief, and makest God 
thy receiver ? 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 71 

LXII. 

WHEN thou pray'st for spirituall graces, let 
thy prayer be absolute ; when, for temporall 
blessings, adde a clause of God's pleasure : in both, 
with faith, and humiliation : so shalt thou un- 
doubtedly receive what thou desirest, or more, or 
better ; never prayer rightly made, was made un- 
heard, or heard, ungranted. 

LXIII. 

HEE that gives all, though but little, gives 
much ; because God looks not to the quantity 
of the gift, but to the quality of the givers : he that 
desires to give more than he can, hath equall'd his 
gift to his desire, and hath given more than he hath. 

LXIV. 

BE not too greedy in desiring riches, nor too 
eager in seeking them : nor too covetous in 
keeping them ; nor too passionate in losing them : 
the first will possesse thy soul of discontent ; the 
second will dispossesse thy body of rest ; the third 
will possesse thy wealth of thee ; the last will dis- 
possesse thee of thy selfe : he that is too violent in 
the concupiscible, will be as violent in the irascible 



72 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 



LXV. 

BE not too rash in the breaking of an incon- 
venient custom e : as it was gotten, so leave 
it by degrees. Danger attends upon too sudden 
alterations : he that pulls down a bad building by 
the great, may be ruin'd by the fall : but he that 
takes it down brick by brick, may live to build a 
better. 



LXVI. 

IF thou desire that inestimable grace of saving 
faith, detest that insatiable vice of damnable 
covetousnesse : it is impossible, one heart (though 
never so double) should lodge both : faith possesses 
thee of what thou hast not; covetousnesse dis- 
possesses thee of what thou hast : thou canst not 
serve God, unlesse Mammon serve thee. 



LXVII. 

BEWARE of him that is slow to anger : anger, 
when it is long in comming, is the stronger 
when it comes, and the longer kept. Abused 
patience turns to fury : when fancy is the ground 
of passion, that understanding which composes the 
fancy qualifies the passion ; but when judgement is 
the ground the memory is the recorder. 



Cent, 2. ENCHIRIDION. 73 

LXVIIL 

HE that professes himselfe thy open enemy, 
armes thee against the evill he meanes thee, 
but he that dissembles himself thy secret friend, 
strikes beyond caution, and wounds above cure : 
from the first, thou mayst deliver thy selfe : from 
the last, good Lord deliver thee. 

LXIX. 

IF thou hast wrong'd thy brother in thought, 
reconcile thee to him in thought ; if thou hast 
offended him in words, let thy reconciliation be in 
words : if thou hast trespassed against him in deeds, 
by deeds be reconciled to him : that reconciliation 
is most kindly which is most in kind. 

LXX. 

NOT to give to the poor is to take from him : 
not to feed the hungry, if thou hast it, is 
the utmost of thy power to kill him : that therefore 
thou mayst avoid both sacriledge and murther, be 
charitable. 



74 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

LXXI. 

SO often as thou remembrest thy sinnes without 
griefe, so often thou repeatest those sinnes for 
not grieving ; he that will not mourne for the evill 
which he hath done, gives earnest for the evill he 
meanes to doe ; nothing can asswage that fire which 
sinne hath made, but only that water which repent- 
ance hath drawne. 



LXXII. 

LOOK well before thou leap into the chaire of 
honour : the higher thou climbest, the lower 
thou fallest: if vertue preferre thee, vertue will 
preserve thee ; if gold or favour advance thee, thy 
honour is pinned upon the wheele of fortune : when 
the wheele shall turne, thy honour falls, and thou 
remainst an everlasting monument of thy own 
ambitious folly. 

LXXIII. 

WEE are born with our temptations : nature 
sometimes presses us to evill, sometimes 
provokes us unto good ; if therefore thou givest her 
more than her due, thou nourishest an enemy ; if 
lesse than is sufficient, thou destroyest a friend: 
moderation will prevent both. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 15 

LXXIV. 

IF thou scorne not to serve luxury in thy youth, 
chastity will scorne thy service in thy age ; and 
that the will of thy green yeares thought no vice in 
the acting, the necessity of thy gray haires makes 
no vertue in the forbearing: where there is no 
conflict, there can be no conquest ; where there is 
no conquest, there is no crowne. 

LXXV. 

THOU didst nothing towards thy own creation, 
for thou wert created for thy Creator's glory ; 
thou must do something towards thy own redemp- 
tion, for thou wert redeemed for thy own good : he 
that made thee without thee, will not save thee 
without thee. 



LXXVI. 

WHEN thy tongue and heart agree not in 
confession, that confession is not agreeable 
to God's pleasure : he that confesses with his 
tongue, and wants confession in his heart, is either 
a vaine man, or an hypocrite : he that hath con- 
fession in his heart, and wants it in his tongue, is 
either a proud man, or a timerous. 



76 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

LXXVII. 

GOLD is Caesar's Treasure, Man is God's : 
Thy gold hath Caesar's image, and thou hast 
God's ; give therefore those things unto Caesar, 
which are Caesar's, and unto God, which are God's. 



LXXVIII. 

IN the commission of evill, feare no man so much 
as thy own selfe : another is but one witnesse 
against thee: thou art a thousand: another thou 
mayst avoid, but thy selfe thou canst not ; wicked- 
nesse is its owne punishment. 

LXXIX. 

IN thy apparell avoyd singularity, profusenesse 
and gaudinesse ; be not too early in the fashion; 
nor too late : decency is the halfe way betweene 
affectation and neglect : the body is the shell of the 
soule ; apparell is the huske of that shell ; the 
huske often tels you what the kirnell is. 



L 



LXXX. 

ET thy recreation be manly, moderate, sea- 
sonable, lawfull; if thy life be sedentary, 



Cent, 2. ENCHIRIDION. 77 

more tending to the exercise of thy body ; if active, 
more to the refreshing of thy mind ; the use of 
recreation is to strengthen thy labour, and sweeten 
thy rest. 



LXXXI. 

BEE not censorious, for thou know'st not whom 
thou judgest; it is a more dextrous errour to 
speak well of an evill man ; than ill of a good man. 
And safer for thy judgement to be misled by simple 
charity, than uncharitable wisdome : he may taxe 
others with priviledge that hath not in himselfe, 
what others may taxe. 

LXXXII. 

TAKE heed of that honour which thy wealth 
hath purchased thee, for it is neither lasting, 
nor thine own. What money creates, money 
preserves : if thy wealth decayes, thy honour dyes ; 
it is but a slippery happinesse which fortunes can 
give, and frowns can take; and not worth the 
owning which a night's fire can melt, or a rough 
sea can drown. 



78 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

LXXXIII. 

IF thou canst desire any thing not to be repented 
of, thou art in a fair way to happinesse ; if thou 
hast attained it, thou art at thy wayes end ; he is 
not happy who hath all that he desires, but that 
desires nothing but what is good ; if thou canst not 
doe what thou need not repent, yet endeavour to 
repent what thy necessity hath done. 

LXXXIV. 

SPEND a hundred yeares in earth's best plea- 
sures; and after that, a hundred more; to 
which being spent, adde a thousand ; and to that, 
tenne thousand more ; the last shall as surely end, 
as the first are ended, and all shall be swallowed 
with eternity : he that is born to day, is not sure 
to live a day ; he that hath lived the longest, is but 
as he that was born yesterday : the happinesse of 
the one is, that he hath liv'd ; the happinesse of the 
other is, that he may live ; and the lot of both is, 
that they must dye : it is no happinesse to live long, 
nor unhappinesse to die soon : happy is he that hath 
liv'd long enough, to dye well. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 79 

LXXXV. 

BE carefull to whom thou givest, and how : he 
that gives him that deserves not, loses his 
gift, and betrayes the giver. He that conferres 
his gift upon a worthy receiver, makes many 
debtors, and by giving, receives. He that gives 
for his owne ends, makes his gift a bribe, and the 
receiver a prisoner : he that gives often, teaches 
requittance to the receiver, and discovers a crafty 
confidence in the giver. 



LXXXVI. 

HATH any wronged thee? be bravely re- 
veng'd : sleight it, and the work's begun ; 
forgive it, and 'tis finisht: he is below himselfe 
that is not above an injury. 



LXXXVII. 

LET not thy passion miscall thy childe, lest 
thou prophesie his fortunes : let not thy 
tongue curse him, lest thy curse returne from 
whence it came : curses sent in the roome of bless- 
ings are driven back with a double vengeance. 



80 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

LXXXVIII. 

IN all the ceremonies of the Church which re- 
maine indifferent, doe according to the consti- 
tution of that Church where thou art : the God of 
order and unity, who created both the soul and the 
body, expects unity in the one, and order in both. 

LXXXIX. 

LET thy religious fast be a voluntary abstinence, 
not so much from flesh as fleshly thoughts : 
God is pleased with that fast which gives to another, 
what thou deniest to thy selfe; and when the 
afflicting of thy own body, is the repairing of thy 
brother's. He fasts truly that abstains sadly, 
grieves really, gives cheerfully, and forgives cha- 
ritably. 

XC. 

IN the hearing of mysteries keep thy tongue 
quiet : five words cost Zacharias forty weeks' 
silence : in such heights, convert thy questions into 
wonders ; and let this suffice thee, the reason of the 
deed, is the power of the doer. 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 81 

XCI. 

DERIDE not him whom the looser world calls 
Puritane, lest thou offend a little one : if he 
be an hypocrite, God, that knowes him, will reward 
him ; if zealous, that God that loves him, will re- 
venge him: if he be good, he is good to God's 
glory : if evill, let him be evill at his own charges : 
he that judges, shall be judged. 

XCII. 

SO long as thou art ignorant, be not asham'd to 
learn : he that is so fondly modest, not to ac- 
knowledge his own defects of knowledge, shall in 
time, be so foully impudent to ju stifle his own 
ignorance : ignorance is the greatest of all infirmi- 
ties ; and, justified, the chiefest of all follies. 



XCIII. 

IF thou be a servant, deal just by thy master, as 
thou desirest thy servant should deale with 
thee : where thou art commanded, be obedient ; 
where not commanded, be provident : let diligence 
be thy credit, let faithfulnesse be thy crowne : let 
thy master's credit be thy care, and let his welfare 
be thy content : let thine eye be single, and thy 



82 ENCHIRIDION. Cent, 2. 

heart, humble: be sober, that thou mayst be cir- 
cumspect : he that in sobriety is not his owne man, 
being drunk, whose is he ? be neither contentious, 
nor lascivious : the one shewes a turbulent heart ; 
the other an idle brain. A good servant is a great 
master. 



XCIV. 

LET the foundation of thy affection be vertue, 
then make the building as rich, and as glori- 
ous as thou canst : if the foundation bee beauty, or 
wealth, and the building vertue, the foundation is 
too weak for the building ; and it will fall : happy 
is he, the pallace of whose affection is founded upon 
vertue, walled with riches, glazed with beauty, and 
roofed with honour. 



xcv. 

IF thy mother be a widow, give her double 
honour, who now acts the part of a double 
parent. Remember her nine months' burthen, and 
her tenth month's travell : forget not her indul- 
gence, when thou didst hang upon her tender 
breast. Call to minde her prayers for thee before 
thou cam'st into the world ; and her cares for thee 
when thou wert come into the world. Remember 



Cent. 2. ENCHIRIDION. 83 

her secret groans, her affectionate teares, her 
broken slumbers, her dayly feares, her nightly 
frights. Relieve her wants ; cover her imperfec- 
tions ; comfort her age : and the widowe's husband, 
will be the orphan's father. 



XCVL 

AS thou desirest the love of God and man, be- 
ware of pride : it is a tumour in thy minde 
that breakes and poysons all thy actions ; it is a 
worm in thy treasure which eates and ruines thy 
estate : it loves no man ; is beloved of no man ; it 
disparages vertue in another by detraction ; it dis- 
rewards goodnesse in itselfe, by vain glory : the 
friend of the flatterer, the mother of envy, the 
nurse of fury, the baud of luxury, the sinne of 
devils, and the devill in mankinde : it hates supe- 
riours, it scornes inferiours, it owns no equals : in 
short, till thou hate it, God hates thee. 



XCVII. 

SO behave thy selfe among thy children, that 
they may love and honour thy presence : be 
not too fond, lest they fear thee not : be not too 
bitter, lest they feare thee too much; too much 
familiarity will embolden them, too little counten- 



84 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 2. 

ance will discourage them : so carry thy selfe, that 
they may rather feare thy displeasure, than thy 
correction ; when thou reprovest them, doe it in 
season ; when thou correctest them, do it not in 
passion : as a wise child makes a happy father, so 
a wise father makes a happy child. 



XCVIII. 

WHEN thy hand hath done a good act, aske 
thy heart if it be well done : the matter of 
a good action is the deed done ; the forme of a 
good action is the manner of the doing : in the first, 
another hath the comfort, and thou the glory ; in 
the other, thou hast the comfort, and God the glory : 
that deed is ill done wherein God is no sharer. 



XCIX. 

WOULDST thou purchase heaven? advise 
not with thy owne ability. The prize of 
heaven is what thou hast ; examine not what thou 
hast, but what thou art : give thy selfe, and thou 
hast bought it : if thy own vilenesse be thy feares, 
offer thy selfe and thou art precious. 



Cent. 2. 



ENCHIRIDION. 



85 



THE birds of the aire die to sustaine thee ; the 
beasts of the field die to nourish thee ; the 
fishes of the sea die to feed thee. Our stomacks 
are their common sepulcher. Good God ! with 
how many deaths are our poor lives patent up ! 
how full of death is the life of momentary man ! 




ENCHIRIDION. 



THE THIRD BOOK. 



vanishes : 



ENCHIRIDION. 



CENT. III. 



I. 




F thou take paines in what is good, 

the paines vanish, the good remains : 

if thou take pleasure in what is evil, 

the evill remaines, and the pleasure 

what art thou the worse for paines, or 



the better for pleasure, when both are past ? 



II. 

IF thy fancy, and judgement have agreed in the 
choice of a fit wife, be not too fond, lest she 
surfeit, nor too peevish, lest she languish : love so, 
that thou mayst be feared ; rule so, that thou mayst 
be honoured : be not too diffident, lest thou teach 
her to deceive thee, nor too suspicious, lest thou 
teach her to abuse thee : if thou see a fault, let thy 



90 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

love hide it ; if she continue it, let thy wisdome 
reprove it : reprove her not openly, lest she grow 
bold : rebuke her not tauntingly, lest she grow 
spitefull: proclaim not her beauty, lest she grow 
proud : boast not her wisdome, lest thou be thought 
foolish; shew her not thy imperfections, lest she 
disdaine thee : pry not into her dairy, lest she 
despise thee : prophane not her eares with loose 
communication, lest thou defile the sanctuary of her 
modesty : an understanding husband makes a dis- 
creet wife ; and she, a happy husband. 



III. 

WRINCKLE not thy face with too much 
laughter, lest thou become ridiculous ; 
neither wanton thy heart with too much mirth, lest 
thou become vaine : the suburbs of folly is vaine 
mirth, and profusenesse of laughter is the city of 
fooles. 

IV. 

LET thy tongue take counsell of one eye, rather 
than of two ears ; let the newes thou re- 
portest be rather stale than false, lest thou be 
branded with the name of lyar. It is an intolerable 
dishonour to be that which only to be called so, is 
thought worthy of a stabbe. 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 91 



LET thy discourse be such, as thy judgement 
may maintaine, and thy company may deserve. 
In neglecting this, thou losest thy words ; in not 
observing the other, thou losest thy selfe. Give 
wash to swine, and wort to men ; so shalt thou 
husband thy gifts to the advantage of thy selfe, and 
shape thy discourse to the advancement of thy 
hearer. 



VI. 

DOST thou roar under the torments of a ty- 
rant? Weigh them with the sufferance of 
thy Saviour, and they are no plague. Dost thou 
rage under the bondage of a raving conscience? 
Compare it to thy Saviour's passion, and it is no 
paine. Have the tortures of Hell taken hold of 
thy despairing soule ? Compare it to thy Saviour's 
torments, and it is no punishment : what sense 
unequally compares, let faith enterchangeably apply; 
and thy pleasures have no comparison. Thy sinnes 
are the authors of his sufferings ; and his hell is the 
price of thy heaven. 



92 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 



VII. 

ART thou banisht from thy owne country? 
Thanke thy owne folly : hadst thou chosen 
a right home, thou hadst been no exile : hadst thou 
commanded thy owne kingdome, all kingdomes 
had been thy owne : the foole is banisht in his 
owne country ; the wise man is in his owne country, 
though banisht: the foole wanders, the wise man 
travels. 



VIII. 

IN seeking vertue, if thou find poverty, be not 
ashamed : the fault is none of thine. Thy 
honour, or dishonour, is purchased by thy owne 
actions. Though vertue give a ragged livery, she 
gives a golden cognizance: if her service make 
thee poore, blush not. Thy poverty may disad- 
vantage thee, but not dishonour thee. 



IX. 

GAZE not on beauty too much, lest it blast 
thee; nor too long, lest it blind thee; nor 
too near, lest it burne thee : if thou like it, it de- 
ceives thee ; if thou love it, it disturbs thee : if thou 
lust after it, it destroyes thee : if vertue accompany 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 93 

it, it is the heart's paradise ; if vice associate it, it 
is the soule's purgatory : it is the wise man's bone- 
fire, and the foole's furnace. 



X. 

IF thou wouldst have a good servant, let thy 
servant find a wise master : let his food, rest, 
and vvages be seasonable : let his labour, recrea- 
tions, and attendance depend upon thy pleasure : 
be not angry with him too long, lest he thinke thee 
malicious ; nor too soone, lest he conceive thee 
rash ; nor too often, lest he count thee humorous. 
Be not too fierce, lest he love thee not; nor too 
remisse, lest he feare thee not; nor too familiar, 
lest he prize thee not. In briefe, whilst thou givest 
him the liberty of a servant, beware thou losest not 
the majesty of a master. 

XL 

IF thou desire to be chaste in wedlocke, keepe 
thy selfe chaste before thou weddest : he that 
hath knowne pleasure unlawfully, will hardly be 
restrained from unlawfull pleasure. One woman 
was created for one man. He that stray es beyond 
the limits of liberty, is brought into the verge of 
slavery. Where one is enough, two is too many, 
and three is too few. 



94 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

XII. 

IF thou would'st be justified, acknowledge thy 
injustice : he that confesses his sinne, begins 
his journey towards salvation : he that is sorry for 
it, mends his pace : he that forsakes it, is at his 
journie's end. 

XIII. 

BEFORE thou reprehend another, take heed 
thou art not culpable in what thou goest 
about to reprehend. He that cleanses a blot with 
blotted fingers, makes a greater blur. 



B 



XIV. 

EWARE of drunkennesse, lest all good men 
beware of thee ; where drunkennesse reigns, 
there reason is an exile ; vertue, a stranger ; God, 
an enemy ; blasphemy is wit, oaths are rhetoricke, 
and secrets are proclamations. Noah discovered 
that in one houre, drunke, which sober, he kept 
secret six hundred years. 



w 



XV. 

HAT thou givest to the poore, thou securest 
from the thiefe, but what thou withholdest 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 95 

from his necessity, a thiefe possesses. God's ex- 
chequer is the poore man's box : when thou strikest 
a tally, he becomes thy debtor. 



XVI. 

TAKE no pleasure in the folly of an idiot, nor 
in the fancy of a lunaticke, nor in the frenzie 
of a drunkard. Make them the object of thy pity, 
not of thy pastime; when thou beholdest them, 
behold how thou art beholding to him that suffered 
thee not to be like them. There is no difference 
between thee and them, but God's favour. 



XVII. 

IF, being in eminent place, thou hast incurred 
the obloquy of the multitude, the more thou 
endeavour est to stop the streame, the more it over- 
flowes ; wisely rather divert the course of the 
vulgar humour, by divulging and spreading some 
ridiculous novelty, which may present new matter 
to their various fancy, and stave their tongues from 
off thy worried name. The first subject of the 
common voice, is the last news. 



96 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

XVIII. 

IF thou desire to see thy child vertuous, let him 
not see his father's vices : thou canst not re- 
buke that in them, that they behold practised in 
thee ; till reason be ripe, examples direct more than 
precepts: such as thy behaviour is before thy 
children's faces, such commonly is theirs behind 
their parents' backs. 

XIX. 

USE law and physicke only for necessity ; they 
that use them otherwise, abuse themselves 
into weake bodies, and light purses : they are good 
remedies, bad businesses, and worse recreations. 



XX. 

BE not over curious in prying into mysteries ; 
lest, by seeking things which are needlesse, 
thou omittest things which are necessary : it is 
more safe to doubt of uncertaine matters, than to 
dispute of undiscovered mysteries. 



i 



XXI. 

F what thou hast received from God thou 
sharest to the poore, thou hast gained a bless- 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 97 

ing by the hand ; if what thou hast taken from the 
poore, thou givest to God, thou hast purchased a 
curse into the bargaine. He that puts to pious 
uses what he hath got by impious usury, robs the 
spittle to raise an hospitall ; and the cry of the one, 
will out-plead the prayers of the other. 



XXII. 

LET the end of thy argument be rather to dis- 
cover a doubtfull truth, than a commanding 
wit ; in the one, thou shalt gaine substance ; in the 
other, froth : that flint strikes the Steele in vaine, 
that propagates no sparkles; covet to be truth's 
champion, at least to hold her colours : he that 
pleads against the truth, takes paines to be over- 
thrown ; or, if a conquerour, gaines but vain-glory 
by the conquest. 



XXIII. 

TAKE no pleasure in the death of a creature ; 
if it be harmlesse or uselesse, destroy it not : 
if usefull, or harmefull destroy it mercifully : he 
that mercifully made his creatures for thy sake, 
expects thy mercy upon them for his sake. Mercy 
turns her backe to the unmercifull. 



H 



98 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

XXIV. 

IF thou art called to the dignity of a, pri&st, the 
same voice calls thee to the honour of a judge ; 
if thy life and doctrine be good, thou shalt judge 
others : if thy doctrine be good, and thy life bad, 
only thy selfe : if both be good, thou teachest thy 
people to escape condemnation : if this be good, 
and that bad, thou teachest God to condemne thee. 

XXV. 

IF thou be not a Prometheus to advise before 
thou dost ; be an Epimetheus to examine when 
thou hast done : when the want of advise hath 
brought forth an improvident act, the act of ex- 
amination may produce a profitable repentance. 

XXVI. 

IF thou desire the happinesse of thy soule, the 
health of thy body, the prosperity of thy estate, 
the preservation of thy credit, converse not with a 
harlot : her eyes runne thy reputation in debt ; her 
lips demand the payment ; her breasts arrest thee ; 
her armes imprison thee ; from whence, beleeve it, 
thou shalt hardly get forth till thou hast either 
ended the dayes of thy credit, or payed the utmost 
farthing of thy estate. 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 99 

XXVII. 

CARRY a watchfull eye upon those familiars 
that are either silent at thy faults, or sooth 
thee in thy frailties, or excuse thee in thy follies ; 
for such are either cowards, or flatterers, or fooles : 
if thou entertain them in prosperity, the coward 
will leave thee in thy dangers, the flatterer will 
quit thee in thy adversity : but the foole will never 
forsake thee. 



XXVIII. 

IF thou hast an estate, and a sonne to inherit it, 
keep him not too short, lest he thinke thou 
livest too long; what thou allowest him, let him 
receive from thy hand, as gift; not from thy 
tenants, as rent : keep the reines of thy estate in 
thy owne hand, lest thou forsaking the soveraignty 
of a father, he forget the reverence of a child : let 
his liberty be grounded on thy permission, and 
keep him within the compasse of thy instruction : 
let him feele, thou hast the curbe, though occasion 
urge thee not to checke. Give him the choise of 
his owne wife, if he be wise. Counsell his affection 
rather than crosse it, if thou beest wise ; lest his 
marriage-bed be made in secret, or depend upon 
thy grave. If he be given to lavish company, 



100 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

endeavour to stave him off with lawfull recreations : 
be cheerfull with him, that he may love thy 
presence ; and wink at small faults, that thou mayst 
gain him : be not always chiding, lest thou harden 
him ; neither knit thy brow too often, lest thou 
dishearten him : remember, the discretion of a father 
oft times prevents the destruction of a childe. 



XXIX. 

IF thou hide thy treasure upon the earth, how 
canst thou expect to finde it in heaven ? Canst 
thou hope to be a sharer where thou hast reposed 
no stocke ? What thou givest to God's glory, and 
thy soule's health, is laid up in heaven, and is onely 
thine ; that alone, which thou exchangest, or hidest 
upon earth, is lost. 

XXX. 

REGARD not in thy pilgrimage how difficult 
the passage is, but whither it tends ; nor how 
delicate the journey is, but where it ends : If it be 
easie, suspect it ; if hard, endure it : he that cannot 
excuse a bad way, accuseth his owne sloth ; and he 
that stickes in a bad passage* can never attaine a 
good journie's end. 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 101 

XXXI. 

MONEY is both the generation and corruption 
of purchased honour : honour is both the 
child and slave of potent money s the credit which 
honour hath lost, money hath found : When honour 
grew mercenary, money grew honourable. The 
way to be truly noble, is to contemn both. 



XXXII. 

GIVE not thy tongue too great a liberty, lest 
it take thee prisoner : A word unspoken is, 
like the sword in thy scabberd, thine ; if vented, 
thy sword is in another's hand : if thou desire to 
be held wise, be so wise as to hold thy tongue. 



XXXIII. 

IF thou be subject to any great vanity, nourish it 
not : if it will be entertained, encourage it not: 
if it grow strong, more strongly strive against it ; 
if too strong, pray against it ; if it weaken not, 
joyne fasting to the prayer ; if it shall continue, 
adde perseverance to both ; if it decline not, adde 
patience to all, and thou hast conquered it. 



102 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

XXXIV. 

HATH any wounded thee with injuries ? meet 
them with patience ; hastie words ranckle 
the wound, soft language dresses it, forgivenesse 
cures it, and oblivion takes away the scarre. It is 
more noble, by silence to avoid an injury, than by 
argument to overcome it. 

XXXV. 

BE not instable in thy resolutions, nor various 
in thy actions, nor inconstant in thy affections: 
so deliberate, that thou mayst resolve ; so resolve, 
that thou mayst performe ; so performe, that thou 
mayst persevere : mutability is the badge of infir- 
mity. 

XXXVI. 

LET not thy good intention flatter thee to an 
evill action; what is essentially evill, no cir- 
cumstance can make good ; it matters not with 
what mind thou didst that, which is unlawfull, being 
done : if the act be good, the intention crowns it ; 
if bad, it deposes thy intention : no evill actions 
can be well done. 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 103 

XXXVII. 

LOVE not thy children too unequally; or, if 
thou dost, shew it not, lest thou make the 
one proud, the other envious, and both fooles : if 
nature hath made a difference, it is the part of a 
tender parent to help the weakest. That triall is 
not fair, where affection is the judge. 



i 



XXXVIII. 

N giving of thy almes, enquire not so much into 
the person, as his necessity: God looks not so 
much upon the merits of him that requires, as into 
the manner of him that relieves : if the man deserve 
not, thou hast given it to humanity. 

XXXIX. 

IF thou desirest the Eucharist should be thy 
supper, let thy life be thy chaplain ; if thy own 
worthinesse invites thee, presume not to come; if 
the sorrowfull sense of thy own sinnes forbid thee, 
presume not to forbeare : if thy faith be strong, it 
will confirme it ; if weak, it will strengthen it : He 
only that wants faith is the forbidden guest. 



104 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 3. 

XL. 

WOULD ST thou traffick with the best advan- 
tage, and crown thy vertues with the best 
return ? Make the poor thy chapman, and thy 
factor : so shalt thou give trifles which thou couldst 
not keep, to receive treasure which thou canst not 
lose : There is no such merchant as the charitable 
man. 

XLI. 

FOLLOW not the multitude in the evill of sin, 
lest thou share with the multitude in the evill 
of punishment : the number of the offenders dimi- 
nisheth not the quality of the offence : as the mul- 
titude of suitors drawes more favour to the suite, 
so the multitude of sinners drawes more punishment 
on the sin : the number of the faggots multiplies 
the fury of the fire. 

XLII. 

IF thou be angry with him that reproves thy 
sinne, thou secretly confessest his reproof to be 
just : if thou acknowledge his reproof to be just, 
thou secretly confessest thy anger to be unjust. 
He that is angry with the just reprover, kindles the 
fire of the just revenger. 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 105 

XLIII. 

DOE well while thou mayst, lest thou do evill 
when thou would not: he that takes not 
advantage of a good power, shall lose the benefit of 
a good will. 

XLIV. 

LET not mirth be thy profession, lest thou be- 
come a make-sport. He that hath but gain'd 
the title of a jester, let him assure himselfe, the 
fool is not farre off. 

XLV. 

IN every relative action, change conditions with 
thy brother ; then aske thy conscience what 
thou wouldest be done to; being truly resolved, 
exchange again, and doe thou the like to him, and 
thy charity shall never erre: it is injustice to do, 
what without impatience thou canst not suffer. 

XL VI. 

LOVE thy neighbour for God's sake, and God 
for his owne sake, who created all things for 
thy sake, and redeemed thee for his mercy sake : if 
thy love have any other object, it is false love : if 
thy object have any other end, it is self-love. 



106 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 



XL VII. 

ET thy conversation with men, be sober and 
-L- i sincere : let thy devotion to God be dutifull 
and decent : let the one be hearty, and not haughty: 
let the other be humble, and not homely : so live 
with men, as if God saw thee ; so pray to God, as 
if men heard thee. 



XL VIII. 

/^ OD'S pleasure is the wind our actions ought 
^-* to sayl by : man's will is the streame that 
tydes them up and down ; if the wind blow not, 
thou mayst take the advantage of the tide ; if it 
blow, no matter which way the streame runs ; if 
with thee, thy voyage will be the shorter; if against 
thee, the sea will bee the rougher : it is safer to 
strive against the stream, than to sayle against the 
wind. 



XLIX. 

IF thou desire much rest, desire not too much : 
there is no lesse trouble in the preservation, 
than in the acquisition of abundance; Diogenes 
found more rest in his tub, than Alexander on his 
throne. 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 107 



WOULDST thou multiply thy riches? di- 
minish them wisely : or wouldst thou make 
thy estate entire ? divide it charitably : seeds that 
are scattered, encrease ; but hoarded up, they perish. 

LI. 

HOW earnest thou by thy honour ? By mony : 
how earnest thou by thy mony ? By extor- 
tion : compare thy penny worth with the price, and 
tell me truly, how truly honourable thou art ? It 
is an ill purchase that is encumbred with a curse, 
and that honour will be ruinous that is built on 
mines. 

LIL 

IF thy brother hath privately offended thee, re- 
prove him privately, and having lost himselfe 
in an injury, thou shalt find him in thy forgive- 
nesse : he that rebukes a private fault openly, be- 
trayes it, rather than reproves it. 



w 



un. 

HAT thou desirest, inspect thoroughly be- 
fore thou prosecute : cast one eye upon the 



108 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

inconveniencies, as well as the other upon the con- 
veniences. Weigh the fulnesse of the barne with 
the charge of the plough : weigh honour with her 
burthen, and pleasure with her dangers ; so shalt 
thou undertake wisely what thou desirest ; or mo- 
derate thy desires in undertaking. 



LIV. 

IF thou owest thy whole selfe to thy God for thy 
creation, what hast thou left to pay for thy re- 
demption, that was not so cheap as thy creation ? 
In thy creation, he gave thee thy selfe, and by thy 
selfe to him : in thy redemption hee gave himselfe 
to thee, and through him restored thee to thy selfe : 
thou art given and restor'd : now what owest thou 
unto thy God ? if thou hast paid all thy debts, give 
him the surplusage, and thou hast merited. 



LV. 

IN thy discourse take heed what thou speakest, 
to whom thou speakest, how thou Speakest, and 
when thou speakest : what thou speakest, speak 
truly ; when thou speakest, speak wisely. A fool's 
heart is in his tongue ; but a wise man's tongue is 
in his heart. 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 109 

LVI. 

BEFORE thou act a theft, consider what thou 
art about to doe : if thou take it, thou losest 
thy selfe ; if thou keep it, thou disenablest thy re- 
demption ; till thou restor'st it, thou canst not be 
restored; when it is restored, it must cost thee 
more paine, and sorrow, than ever it brought thee 
pleasure or profit. It is a great folly to please the 
palate with that which thou knowest must either be 
vomited, or thy death. 

LVII. 

SILENCE is the highest wisdome of a fool, and 
speech is the greatest triall of a wise man ; if 
thou would'st be known a wise man, let thy words 
shew thee so; if thou doubt thy words, let thy 
silence feign thee so. It is not a greater point of 
wisdome to discover knowledge, than to hide igno- 
rance. 



LVIII. 

r T^HE clergy is a copy book, their life is the 

A paper, whereof some is purer, some coarser : 

their doctrine is the copies, some written in plain 

hand, others in a flourishing hand, some in a text 



110 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

hand, some in a Roman hand, others in a court 
hand, others in a bastard Roman : if the choise be 
in thy power, chuse a book that hath the finest 
paper, let it not bee too straight nor too loosely 
bound, but easie to lye open to every eye : follow 
not every copy, lest thou be good at none : among 
them all chuse one that shall be most legible and 
usefull, and fullest of instructions. But if the 
paper chance to have a blot, remember, the blot is 
no part of the copy. 



LIX. 

VERTUE is nothing but an act of loving that 
which is to be beloved, and that act is pru- 
dence, from whence not to be removed by constraint 
is fortitude ; not to be allur'd by enticements is 
temperance ; not to be diverted by pride is justice. 
The declining of this act is vice. 

LX. 

REBUKE thy servant's fault in private : pub- 
lique reproof hardens his shame : if he be 
past a youth, strike him not : he is not fit for thy 
service, that after wise reproofes will either deserve 
thy strokes, or digest them. 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. Ill 

LXI. 

TAKE heed rather what thou receivest, than 
what thou givest ; what thou givest leaves 
thee, what thou takest, sticks by thee : he that pre- 
sents a gift buyes the receiver ; he that takes a gift 
sells his liberty. 

LX1I. 

THINGS temporally are sweeter in the expec- 
tation : things eternall are sweeter in the 
fruition : the first shames thy hope, the second 
crownes it : it is a vain journey, whose end affords 
lesse pleasure than the way. 

LXIII. 

KNOW thy selfe that thou mayst fear God: 
know God, that thou mayst love him ; in 
this, thou art initiated to wisdome ; in that, per- 
fected : the feare of God is the beginning of wis- 
dome : the love of God is the fulfilling of the law. 



i 



LXIV. 

F thou hast providence to foresee a danger, let 
thy prudence rather prevent it, than feare it. 



112 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 3. 

The feare of future evils, brings oftentimes a pre- 
sent mischiefe: whilst thou seekest to prevent it, 
practice to beare it. He is a wise man can avoyd 
an evill ; he is a patient man that can endure it ; 
but he is a valiant man can conquer it. 



LXV. 

IF thou hast the place of a magistrate, deserve it 
by thy justice, and dignifie it with thy mercy : 
take heed of early gifts : an open hand makes a 
blind eye : be not more apt to punish vice, than to 
encourage vertue. Be not too severe, lest thou be 
hated, nor too remisse, lest thou be sleighted : so 
execute justice, that thou mayst be loved : so exe- 
cute mercy, that thou mayst be feared. 



L 



LXVI. 

ET not thy table exceed the fourth part of thy 
revenue : let thy provision be solid, and not 
farre fetcht, fuller of substance than art : be wisely 
frugall in thy preparation, and freely cheerfull in 
thy entertainment: if thy guests be right, it is 
enough ; if not, it is too much : too much is a 
vanity ; enough is a feast. 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 113 

LXVIL 

LET thy apparell be decent, and suited to the 
quality of thy place and purse : too much 
punctualitie, and too much morositie, are the two 
poles of pride : be neither too early in the fashion, 
nor too long out of it, nor too precisely in it : what 
custome hath civiliz'd, is become decent, till then, 
ridiculous : where the eye is the jury, thy apparell 
is the evidence. 



LXVIII. 

IF thy words be too luxuriant, confine them, lest 
they confine thee : he that thinks he never can 
speake enough, may easily speake too much. A 
full tongue, and an empty braine, are seldome 
parted. 



LXIX. 

IN holding of an argument, be neither cholericke, 
nor too opinionate; the one distempers thy 
understanding ; the other abuses thy judgement : 
above all things decline paradoxes and mysteries : 
thou shalt receive no honour, either in maintaining 
ranke falshoods, or medling with secret truths ; as 
he that pleads against the truth, makes wit the 



1 14 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

mother of his errour: so he that argues beyond 
warrant, makes wisedome the midwife of his folly. 



D 



LXX. 

ETAINE not the wages from the poor man 
that hath earn'd it, lest God withhold thy 
wages from thee : if he complaine to thee, heare 
him, lest he complaine to Heaven, where he will be 
heard : if he hunger for thy sake, thou shalt not 
prosper for his sake. The poore man's penny is a 
plague in the rich man's purse. 

LXXI. 

BE not too cautious in discerning the fit objects 
of thy charity, lest a soule perish through thy 
discretion : what thou givest to mistaken want, 
shall returne a blessing to thy deceived heart: 
better in relieving idlenesse to commit an acciden- 
tall evill, than in neglecting misery to omit an 
essentiall good: better two drones be preserv'd, 
than one bee perish. 

LXXIL 

THEOLOGY is the empresse of the world ; 
mysteries are her privy councell ; religion is 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 115 

her clergy ; the arts her nobility ; philosophy her 
secretary : the graces her maids of honour ; the 
morall vertues, the ladies of her bedchamber ; peace 
is her chamberlaine ; true joy, and endlesse plea- 
sures are her courtiers ; plenty her treasurer ; po- 
verty her exchequer ; the temple is her court : if 
thou desire accesse to this great majesty, the way 
is by her courtiers ; if thou hast no power there, 
the common way to the soveraigne is the secretary. 



LXXIIL 

IT is an evill knowledge to know the good thou 
shouldst embrace, unlesse thou likewise embrace 
the good thou knowest : the breath of divine know- 
ledge, is the bellowes of divine love, and the flame 
of divine love, is the perfection of divine know- 
ledge. 

LXXIV. 

IF thou desire rest unto thy soule, be just : he 
that doth no injury, fears not to suffer injury : 
the unjust mind is alwayes in labour: it either 
practises the evill it hath projected, or projects to 
avoid the evill it hath deserved. 



116 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 3. 



LXXV, 

ACCUSTOME thy palate to what is most 
usuall: he that delights in rarities, must 
often feed displeased, and sometimes lie at the 
mercy of a deare market : common food nourishes 
best, delicates please most: the sound stomacke 
preferres neither. What art thou the worse for 
the last yeare's plaine diet, or what now the better 
for thy last great feast ? 



LXXVI. 

WHOEVER thou art, thou hast done more 
evill in one day, than thou canst expiate in 
six ; and canst thou thinke the evill of six dayes, 
can require lesse than one ? God hath made us 
rich in dayes, by allowing six, and himselfe poore 
by reserving but one ; and shall we spare our owne 
flocke, and sheare his lambe? he that hath done 
nothing but what he can justifie in the six dayes, 
may play the seventh. 

LXXVII. 

HOPE and Feare, like Hippocrates' twins, 
should live and dye together : if hope depart 
from feare, it travels by security, and lodges in 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 117 

presumption ; if feare depart from hope, it travels 
to infidelitie, and innes in despaire, the one shuts 
up heaven, the other opens hell; the one makes 
thee insensible of God's frownes, the other, inca- 
pable of God's favours ; and both teach God to be 
unmercifull, and thee to be most miserable. 



LXXVIII. 

CLOSE thine eare against him that shall open 
his mouth secretly against another : if thou 
receive not his words, they flye back, and wound 
the reporter : if thou receive them, they flee for- 
ward, and wound the receiver. 



LXXIX. 

IF thou wouldst preserve a sound body, use fast- 
ing and walking ; if a healthfull soule, fasting 
and praying; walking exercises the body, praying 
exercises the soule, fasting cleanses both. 

LXXX. 

TT"TOULDST thou not be thought a foole in 

* " another's conceit, be not wise in thine owne : 

he that trusts to his owne wisdome, proclaimes his 

owne folly : he is truly wise, and shall appeare so, 



118 ENCHIRIDION, Cent. 3. 

that hath folly enough to be thought not worldly 
wise, or wisdome enough to see his owne folly. 



LXXXI. 

DESIREST thou knowledge ? know the end 
of thy desire : is it only to know ? then it is 
curiosity : is it because thou mayst be knowne ? 
then 'tis vanity : if because thou mayst edefie, it is 
charity : if because thou mayst be edefied, it is 
wisdome. That knowledge turnes to meere ex- 
crement, that hath not some heate of wisdome to 
digest it. 

LXXXII. 

WISDOME without innocency is knavery; 
innocency without wisdome is foolery : be 
therefore as wise as serpents, and innocent as doves : 
the subtilty of the serpent, instructs the innocency 
of the dove : the innocency of the dove, corrects 
the subtilty of the serpent : What God hath joyn'd 
together, let no man separate. 

LXXXIII. 

THE more thou imitatest the vertues of a Saint 
departed, the better thou celebratest that 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 119 

Saint's day. God is not pleased with surfeting for 
his sake, who with his fasting so often pleased his 
God. 



LXXXIV. 

CHUSE not thy serviceable souldier out of soft 
apparell, lest he prove effeminate, nor out of 
a full purse, lest he grow timorous : they are more 
fit for action, that are fiery to gaine a fortune 
abroad, than they that have fortunes to lose at 
home. Expectation breeds spirit; fruition brings 
feare. 

LXXXV. 

GOD hath given to mankinde a common library, 
his creatures ; and to every man a proper 
booke, himselfe, being an abridgement of all the 
others : if thou reade with understanding, it will 
make thee a great master of philosophy, and a true 
servant to the divine authour : if thou but barely 
reade, it will make thee thy owne wise man, and 
the authour's foole. 



D 



LXXXVI. 

OUBT is a weake childe lawfully begotten 
between an obstructed judgement, and a faire 



120 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

understanding. Opinion is a bold bastard gotten 
between e a strong fancie, and a weak judgement ; 
it is lesse dishonourable to be ingenuously doubtfull, 
than rashly opinion ate. 



LXXXVII. 

AS thou art a morall man, esteem thy selfe not 
as thou art, but as thou art esteemed. As 
thou art a Christian, esteeme thy selfe as thou art, 
not as thou art esteemed ; thy price in both rises 
and falls as the market goes. The market of a 
morall man is wild opinion. The market of a 
Christian is a good conscience. 

LXXXVIII. 

PROVIDENCE is an exercise of reason ; expe- 
rience an act of sense : by how much reason 
excels sense, by so much providence exceeds expe- 
rience. Providence prevents that danger, which 
experience repents: providence is the rationall 
daughter of wisdome ; experience the empiricall 
mistresse of fooles. 



H 



LXXXIX. 

ATH fortune dealt thee ill cards? let wisdome 
make thee a good gamester : in a faire gale, 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 121 

every foole may sayle; but wise behaviour in a 
storme commends the wisdome of a pilot ; to bear 
adversity with an equall minde, is both the sign 
and glory of a brave spirit. 



XC. 

IF any speake ill of thee, flee home to thy owne 
conscience, and examine thy heart : if thou be 
guilty, it is a just correction ; if not guilty, it is a 
faire instruction : make use of both, so shalt thou 
distill hony out of gall, and out of an open enemy, 
create a secret friend. 



XCI. 

AS the exercise of the body naturall is moderate 
recreation, so the exercise of the body poli- 
ticke, is military discipline : by that the one is made 
more able ; by this, the other is made more active : 
Where both are wanting, there wants no danger to 
the one, through a humorous superfluity, to the 
other, by a negligent security. 



G 



XCII. 

OD is above thee, beasts are beneath thee: 
acknowledge him that is above thee, and 



122 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

thou shalt be acknowledg'd by them that are under 
thee : Whilst Daniel acknowledg'd God to be above 
him, the lions acknowledg'd Daniel to be above 
them. 



XCIII. 

TAKE heed whilst thou shewest wisdome in 
not speaking, thou betrayest not thy folly in 
too long silence : if thou art a foole, thy silence is 
wisdome ; if a wise man, too long silence is folly. 
As too many words from a foole's mouth, give a 
wise man no leave to speake ; so too long silence 
in a wise man, gives a foole the opportunity of 
speaking, and makes thee guilty of his folly. 

XCIV. 

CONSIDER what thou wert, what thou art, 
what thou shalt be: What is within thee, 
what is above thee, what is beneath thee, what is 
against thee : what was before thee, what shall be 
after thee ; and this will bring to thy selfe humility, 
to thy neighbour charity, to the world contempt, to 
thy God obedience : Hee that knowes not himselfe 
positively, can not knowe himselfe relatively. 



Cent. 3. ENCHIRIDION. 123 

xcv. 

THINKE not thy love to God merits God's 
love to thee: his acceptance of thy duty 
crowns his owne gifts in thee : Man's love to God 
is nothing but a faint reflection of God's love to 
man. 



XCVI. 

BE alwayes lesse willing to speake than to 
heare ; what thou nearest, thou receivest ; 
what thou speakest, thou givest. It is more glori- 
ous to give, more profitable to receive. 

XCVII. 

SEE ST thou good dayes? prepare for evili 
times : No summer but hath his winter. He 
never reaped comfort in adversity, that sowed it 
not in prosperity. 



XCVIII. 

IF being a magistrate, thou connivest at vice, 
thou nourishest it ; if thou sparest it, thou 
committest it : what is not, by thee, punisht in 
others, is made punishable in thee. He that 



124 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 3. 

favours present evils, entayles them upon his pos- 
terity : he that excuses the guilty, condemnes the 
innocent. 



XCIX. 

TRUTH haunts no corners, seeks no by-wayes : 
If thou professe it, do it openly: if thou 
seeke it, do it fairely : He deserves not to professe 
truth, that professes it fearefully : he deserves not 
to finde the truth, that seekes it fraudulently. 



IF thou desire to be wiser yet, think not thy selfe 
yet wise enough : and if thou desire to improve 
knowledge in thy selfe, despise not the instructions 
of another. He that instructs him that thinkes 
himselfe wise enough, hath a foole to his schollar : 
he that thinkes himselfe wise enough to instruct 
himselfe, hath a foole to his master. 



^WlfS 



ENCHIRIDION. 



THE FOURTH BOOK. 



ENCHIRIDION. 



CENT. IV. 




jEMEANE thy selfe more warily in 
thy study, than in the street. If thy 
publique actions haye a hundred 
witnesses, thy private have a thou- 
sand. The multitude lookes but upon thy actions : 
thy conscience lookes into them : the multitude 
may chance to excuse thee, if not acquit thee ; thy 
conscience will accuse thee, if not condemn thee. 



II. 

/"~\F all vices take heed of drunkennesse ; other 
^^ vices are but fruits of disordered affections : 
this disorders, nay, banishes reason : other vices 
but impaire the soule, this demolishes her two chiefe 
faculties; the understanding, and the will: other 



128 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

vices make their owne way ; this makes way for 
all vices: hee that is a drunkard is qualified for 
all vice. 



III. 

IF thy sinne trouble thee, let that trouble com- 
fort thee ; as pleasure in the remembrance of 
sinne exasperates justice, so sorrow in the repent- 
ance of sinne mollifies mercy: it is lesse danger 
to commit the sin we delight in, than to delight in 
the sinne we have committed, and more joy is 
promised to repentance, than to innocency. 



IV. 

THE way to God is by thy selfe ; the way to 
thy selfe is by thy owne corruptions : he that 
baulkes this way, erres; he that travels by the 
creatures, wanders. The motion of the heavens 
shall give thy soule no rest : the vertue of herbs 
shall not encrease thine. The height of all philo- 
sophy, both naturall and morall, is to know thy 
selfe, and the end of this knowledge is to know 
God. 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 129 

V. 

INFAMY is where it is received: if thou art a 
mudde-wall it will stick ; if marble, it will re- 
bound : if thou storme at it, it is thine : if thou 
contemne it, it is his. 



i 



VI. 

F thou desire magistracy, learne to forget thy 
selfe ; if thou undertake it, bid thy selfe fare- 
well; he that lookes upon a common cause with 
private eyes, lookes through false glasses. In the 
exercise of thy politique office, thou must forget 
both ethickes and oeconomickes. He that puts on 
a publique gowne, must put off a private person. 

VII. 

LET the words of a virgin, though in a good 
cause, and to as good purpose, be neither 
violent, many, nor first, nor last : it is lesse shame 
for a virgin to be lost in a blushing silence, than to 
be found in a bold eloquence. 



A 



VIII. 

RT thou in plenty ? give what thou wilt : art 
thou in poverty ? give what thou canst : as 



130 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

what is received, is received according to the man- 
ner of the receiver ; so what is given, is prized ac- 
cording to the measure of the giver : he is a good 
workeman that makes as good worke as his matter 
will permit. 



IX. 

GOD is the Author of truth, the Devill the 
father of lies : if the telling of a truth shall 
endanger thy life, the author of truth will protect 
thee from the danger, or reward thee for thy 
damage. If the telling a lye may secure thy life, 
the father of lyes will beguile thee of thy gaines, or 
traduce the security. Better by losing of a life to 
save it, than by saving of a life to lose it. How- 
ever, better thou perish than the truth. 



CONSIDER not so much what thou hast, as 
what others want : what thou hast, take 
heed thou lose not. What thou hast not, take 
heed thou covet not : if thou hast many above thee, 
turne thy eye upon those that are under thee : If 
thou hast no inferiours, have patience a while, and 
thou shalt have no superiours. The grave requires 
no marshall. 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 131 

XI. 

IF thou seest any thing in thy self, which may 
make thee proud, look a little further, and 
thou shalt find enough to humble thee ; if thou be 
wise, view the peacock's feathers with his feet, and 
weigh thy best parts with thy imperfections. He 
that would rightly prize the man, must read his 
whole story. 



XII. 

LET not the sweetnesse of contemplation be so 
esteemed, that action be despised ; Rachel 
was more faire, Lea more fruitfull : as contempla- 
tion is more delightfull, so is it more dangerous : 
Lot was upright in the city and wicked in the 
mountaine. 



XIII. 

IF thou hast but little, make it not lesse by 
murmuring : if thou hast enough, make it not 
too much by unthankefulnesse : He that is not 
thankfully contented with the least favour he hath 
received, hath made himselfe incapable of the least 
favour he can receive. 



132 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. A. 

XIV. 

T¥7HAT thou hast taken unlawfully, restore 
* * speedily, for the sinne in taking it, is re- 
peated every minute thou keepest it : if thou canst, 
restore it in kinde : if not, in value ; if it may be, 
restore it to the party ; if not, to God : the poore 
is God's receiver. 

XV. 

LET the fear of a danger be a spur to prevent 
it : Hee that feares otherwise, gives advantage 
to the danger : It is lesse folly not to endeavour 
the prevention of the evill thou fearest, than to 
feare the evill which thy endeavour cannot prevent. 

XVI. 

IF thou hast any excellence which is thine owne, 
thy tongue may glory in it without shame ; but 
if thou hast received it, thy glory is but usurpation ; 
and thy pride is but the prologue of thy shame : 
where vain-glory commands, there folly counsels ; 
where pride rides, there shame lacquies. 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 133 

XVII. 

GOD hath ordained his creatures, not onely 
for necessity, but delight; since he hath 
carv'd thee with a bountifull hand, feare not to 
receive it with a liberall heart : he that gave thee 
water to allay thy thirst, gave thee wine to exhili- 
rate thy heart. Restore him, for the one, neces- 
sity of thankes, returne him, for the other, the 
chearfulnesse of praise. 

XVIII. 

IF the wicked flourish and thou suffer, discourage 
not : they are fatted for destruction ; thou art 
dieted for health ; they have no other heaven but 
the hopes of a long earth ; thou hast nothing on 
earth but the hopes of a quicke heaven : if there 
were no journies' end, the travell of a Christian 
were most comfortlesse. 

XIX. 

IMPE not thy wings with the churche's feathers, 
lest thou flie to thy owne ruine : impropriations 
are bold metaphors; which continued, are deadly 
allegories : one foot of land in capite, encumbers 
the whole estate: the eagle snatcht a coale from 
the altar, but it fired her nest. 



134 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

XX. 

LET that table which God hath pleased to give 
thee, please thee : he that made the vessel 
knows her burthen, and how to ballast her ; he 
that made all things very good, cannot but doe all 
things very well; if thou be content with a little, 
thou hast enough : if thou complainest, thou hast 
too much. 



XXI. 

WOULD ST thou discover the true worth of 
a man? behold him naked: distreasure 
him of his ill-got wealth, degrade him of his deare 
bought honour, disrobe him of his purple habit. 
Discard his pampered body ; then looke upon his 
soule, and thou shalt finde how great he is. 
Naturall sweetnesse is never scented but in the 
absence of artificiall. 



XXII. 

IF thou art subject to any secret folly, blab it 
not, lest thou appear impudent; nor boast of 
it, lest thou seem insolent. Every man's vanity 
ought to be his greatest shame^: and every man's 
folly ought to be his greatest secret. 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 135 

XXIII. 

IF thou be ignorant, endeavour to get knowledge, 
lest thou be beaten with stripes : if thou hast 
attained knowledge, put it in practice, lest thou be 
beaten with many stripes. Better not to know 
what we should practice, than not to practice what 
we know ; and lesse danger dwels in unaffected 
ignorance, than unactive knowledge. 



XXIV. 

TAKE heed thou harbor not that vice called 
envy, lest another's happinesse be thy tor- 
ment, and God's blessing become thy curse : vertue 
corrupted with vain-glory, turnes pride, pride 
poysoned with malice, becomes envy ; joyne, there- 
fore, humility with thy vertue, and pride shall have 
no footing, and envy shall finde no entrance. 

XXV. 

IF thy endeavour cannot prevent a vice, let thy 
repentance lament it: the more thou remem- 
brest it without heart's griefe, the deeper it is 
rooted in thy heart : take heed it please thee not, 
especially in cold blood. Thy pleasure in it makes 
it fruitfull, and her fruit is thy destruction. 



1 36 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 4. 

XXVI. 

THE two knowledges, of God, and thy selfe, 
are the high way to thy salvation ; that 
breeds in thee a filiall love ; this a filiall feare. 
The ignorance of thy selfe is the beginning of all 
sinne ; and the ignorance of God is the perfection 
of all evill. 



XXVII. 

RATHER do nothing to the purpose, than be 
idle, that the Devill may finde thee doing: 
the bird that sits is easily shot, when fliers scape 
the fowler : idlenesse is the dead sea that swallowes 
all vertues, and the selfe-made sepulcher of a living 
man : the idle man is the devil's hireling ; whose 
livery is rags, whose diet and wages are famine, 
and diseases. 



XXVIII. 

BE not so madde as to alter that countenance 
which thy Creatour made thee : remember it 
was the worke of his hands ; if it be bad, how 
darest thou mend it ? if it be good, why dost thou 
mend it ? art thou ashamed of his worke, and proud 
of thy owne ? he made thy face to be knowne by, 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 137 

why desirest thou to be known e by another : it is a 
shame to adulterate modesty, but more to adulterate 
nature. Lay by thy art, and blush not to appeare, 
what he blushes not to make thee. It is better to 
be his picture than thy owne. 



XXIX. 

LET the ground of all thy religious actions be 
obedience : examine not why it is commanded, 
but observe it, because it is commanded. True 
obedience neither procrastinates, nor questions. 

XXX. 

IF thou would buy an inheritance in Heaven, 
advise not with thy purse, lest in the meane 
while thou lose thy purchase : the widow bought as 
much for two mites, as Zaccheus did for halfe his 
estate : the price of that purchase is what thou hast, 
and is not lost for what thou hast not, if thou desire 
to have it. 



XXXI. 

WITH the same height of desire thou hast 
sinned, with the like depth of sorrow thou 
must repent : thou that hast sinned to-day, deferre 



138 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

not thy repentance till to-morrow : he that hath 
promised pardon to thy repentance, hath not pro- 
mised life till thou repent. 



XXXII. 

I^AKE heed how thou receivest praise from 
- men : from good men neither avoid it, nor 
glory in it. From evill men, neither desire it, nor 
expect it : to be praised of them that are evill, or 
for that which is evill, is equall dishonour : he is 
happy in his worth, who is praised by the good, 
and imitated by the bad. 



XXXIII. 

PROPORTION thy charity to the strength of 
thy estate, lest God proportion thy estate to 
the weakenesse of thy charity : let the lips of the 
poore be the trumpet of thy gift, lest in seeking 
applause, thou lose thy reward. Nothing is more 
pleasing to God, than an open hand and a close 
mouth. 



D 



XXXIV. 

OST thou want things necessary? grumble 
not: perchance it was a necessary thing 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 139 

thou shouldst want : endeavour lawfully to supply 
it; if God blesse not thy endeavour, blesse him 
that knoweth what is fittest for thee. Thou art 
God's patient : prescribe not thy physitian. 

XXXV. 

IF another's death, or thy own, depend upon thy 
confession, if thou canst, say nothing : if thou 
must, say the truth : it is better thou lose thy life, 
than God his honour : it is as easie for him to give 
thee life, being condemned, as repentance, having 
sinned : it is more wisdome to yeeld thy body, than 
hazard thy soule. 

XXXVI. 

C LOATH not thy language, either with obscu- 
rity, or affectation : in the one thou disco- 
verest too much darkness, in the other, too much 
lightness : he that speaks from the understanding 
to the understanding, is the best interpreter. 

XXXVII. 

TF thou expect death as a friend, prepare to 
-*- entertaine it : if thou expect death as an enemy, 
prepare to overcome it : death has no advantage, 
but when it comes a stranger. 



140 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. A, 



XXXVIII. 

FEARE nothing, but what thy industry may 
prevent: be confident of nothing but what 
fortune cannot defeat : it is no lesse folly to feare 
what is impossible to be avoided, than to be secure 
when there is a possibility to be deprived. 



XXXIX. 

LET not the necessity of God's decree discou- 
rage thee to pray? or dishearten thy prayers ; 
doe thou thy duty, and God will doe his pleasure : 
if thy prayers make not him sound that is sicke, 
they will returne, and confirme thy health that art 
sound : if the end of thy prayer be to obtain thy 
request, thou confinest him that is infinite : if thou 
hast done well, because thou wert commanded, thou 
hast thy reward in that thou hast obeyed. God's 
pleasure is the end of our prayers. 



M 



XL. 

ARRY not too young; and when thou art 
too old, marry not, lest thou be fond in the 
one, or thou dote in the other, and repent for both : 
let thy liking ripen before thou love : let thy love 
advise before thou choose; and let thy choice be 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 141 

fixt before thou marry. Remember that the whole 
happinesse or unhappinesse of thy life depends upon 
this one act. Remember nothing but death can 
dissolve this knot. He that weds in haste, repents 
ofttimes by leisure : and he that repents him of his 
owne act, either is or was a foole by confession. 



XLI. 

IF God hath sent thee a crosse, take it up and 
follow him : use it wisely, lest it be unprofit- 
able; beare it patiently, lest it be intolerable: 
behold in it God's anger against sinne, and his love 
towards thee ; in punishing the one, and chastening 
the other : if it be light, sleight it not ; if heavy, 
murmure not : not to be sensible of a judgement, is 
the symptome of a hardned heart ; and to be dis- 
pleased at his pleasure, is a signe of a rebellious 
will. 



XLIL 

IF thou desire to be magnanimous, undertake 
nothing rashly, and feare nothing thou under- 
takest : feare nothing but infamy ; dare any thing 
but injury ; the measure of magnanimity? is neither 
to be rash, nor timorous. 



142 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 4. 

XLIII. 

PRACTICE in health to beare sicknesse, and 
endeavour in the strength of thy life to enter- 
taine death : he that hath a will to die, not having 
power to live, shewes necessity, not vertue: it is 
the glory of a brave mind, to embrace pangs in the 
very armes of pleasure : what name of vertue 
merits he, that goes when he is driven ! 



B 



XLIV. 

E not too punctuall in taking place : if he be 
thy super iour, it is his due ; if thy inferiour, 
it is his dishonour: it is thou must honour thy 
place ; thy place, not thee. It is a poor reward of 
worth that consists in a right hand, or a brick-wall. 

XLV. 

PRAY often, because thou sinnest alwayes: re- 
pent quickly, lest thou die suddenly. He 
that repents it, because he wants power to act it, 
repents not of a sin, till he forsakes not : he that 
wants power to actuate his sin, hath not forsaken 
his sin, but his sin him. 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 143 

XL VI. 

MAKE philosophy thy journey, theology thy 
journ eye's end : philosophy is a pleasant way, 
but dangerous to him that either tires or retires : 
in this journey, it is safe neither to loyter, nor to 
rest, till thou hast attained thy journey e's end: he 
that sits downe a philosopher, rises up an atheist. 



XLVII. 

FEARE not to sinne, for God's sake, but thy 
owne : thy sinne overthrowes not his glory, 
but thy good : He gaines his glory, not only from 
the salvation of the repentant, but also from the 
confusion of the rebellious : there be vessels for 
honour, and vessels for dishonour, but both for his 
honour. God is not grieved for the glory he shall 
lose for thy improvidence, but for the horror thou 
shalt finde for thy impenitence. 



XL VIII. 

FNSULT not over misery, nor deride infirmity, 
-*- nor despise deformity. The first shews thy 
inhumanity : the second, thy folly ; the third, thy 
pride: He that made him miserable, made thee 
happy to lament him : He that made him weake, 



144 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

made thee strong to support him : he that made 
him deformed, gave thee favour to be humbled : he 
that is not sensible of another's unhappinesse, is a 
living stone ; but he that makes misery the object 
of his triumph, is an incarnate devill. 



XLIX. 

MAKE thy recreations servants to thy busi- 
nesses, lest thou become slave to thy re- 
creations : when thou goest up into the mountaine, 
leave this servant in the valley : when thou goest 
to the city, leave him in the suburbs. And re- 
member, the servant must not be greater than his 
master. 



L. 

PRAISE no man too liberally before his face, 
nor censure him too lavishly behind his backe, 
the one savours of flattery; the other, of malice, 
and both are reprehensible : the true way to ad- 
vance another's vertue, is to follow it ; and the 
best meanes to cry downe another's vice, is to 
decline it. 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 145 

LI. 

IF thy Prince command a lawfull act, give him 
all active obedience : if he command an un- 
lawfull act, give him passive obedience. What thy 
well-grounded conscience will suffer, doe chearfully 
without repining; where thou mayst not do law- 
fully, suffer couragiously without rebellion : thy 
life and livelihood is thy Prince's, thy conscience is 
thy owne. 



LIL 

IF thou gives t, to receive the like, it is exchange : 
if to receive more, it is covetousnesse : if to 
receive thanks, it is vanity : if to be seen, it is vain- 
glory ; if to corrupt, it is bribery ; if for example, 
it is formality; if for compassion, it is charity; if 
because thou art commanded, it is obedience. The 
affection in doing the work, gives a name to the 
work done. 



LIU. 

FEAR death, but be not afraid of death. To 
feare it, whets thy expectation : to be afraid 
of it, duls thy preparation : if thou canst endure it, 
it is but a sleight pain ; if not, it is but a short 

L 



146 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. A. 

pain : to fear death is the way to live long ; to be 
afraid of death, is to be long a dying. 



LIV. 

TF thou desire the love of God and man, be 
-■- humble ; for the proud heart, as it loves none 
but itselfe, so it is beloved of none, but by itself: 
the voice of humility is God's musick, and the 
silence of humility is God's rhetorick. Humility 
enforces, where neither vertue nor strength can 
prevaile, nor reason. 

LV. 

LOOK upon thy burning taper, and there see 
the embleme of thy life : the flame is thy 
soule, the wax, thy body, and is commonly a span 
long ; the wax, (if never so well tempered) can but 
last his length; and who can lengthen it? If ill 
tempered, it shall waste the faster, yet last his 
length ; an open window shall hasten either ; an 
extinguisher shall put out both : husband them the 
best thou canst, thou canst not lengthen them 
beyond their date : leave them to the injury of the 
winde, or to the mercy of a wastefull hand, thou 
hastenest them, but still they burn their length : 
but puffe them out, and thou hast shortned them, 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 147 

and stopt their passage, which else had brought 
them to their appointed end. Bodies according to 
their constitutions, stronger or weaker, according 
to the equality or inequality of their elements, have 
their dates, and may be preserv'd from shortning, 
but not lengthened. Neglect may waste them, ill 
diet may hasten them unto their journie's end, yet 
they have lived their length ; a violent hand may 
interrupt them : a sudden death may stop them, 
and they are shortned. It lies in the power of 
man, either permissively to hasten, or actively to 
shorten, but not to lengthen or extend the limits of 
his naturall life. He only, (if any) hath the art to 
lengthen out his taper, that puts it to the best 
advantage. 



LVI. 

DEMEAN thy selfe in the presence of thy 
Prince, with reverence and chearfulnesse. 
That, without this, is too much sadness ; this, with- 
out that, is too much boldnesse : let thy wisdome 
endeavour to gain his opinion, and labour to make 
thy loyalty his confidence : let him not find thee 
false in words, unjust in thy actions, unseasonable 
in thy suits, nor carelesse in his service : crosse not 
his passion, question not his pleasures, presse not 
into his secrets ; pry not into his prerogative : dis- 



148 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

please him not, lest he be angry ; appeare not dis- 
pleased, lest he be jealous : the anger of a King is 
implacable : the jealousy of a Prince is incurable. 



LVII. 

GIVE thy heart to thy Creator, and reverence 
to thy superiors : give diligence to thy call- 
ing, and eare to good counsell : give almes to the 
poor, and the glory to God : forgive him that 
ignorantly offends thee, and him that having wit- 
tingly offended thee, seeks thee. Forgive him that 
hath forcibly abused thee, and him that hath 
fraudulently betrayed thee : forgive all thine ene- 
mies, but least of all, thy selfe : give, and it shall 
be given thee; forgive, and it shall be forgiven 
thee ; the sum of all Christianity is, give, and for- 
give. 



LVIII. 

BEE not too great a niggard in the commenda- 
tions of him that professes thy own quality : 
if he deserve thy praise, thou hast discovered thy 
judgement ; if not, thy modesty : honour either 
returns, or reflects to the giver. 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 149 



LIX. 

IF thy desire to raise thy fortunes, encourage thy 
delights to the casts of fortune, be wise betimes, 
lest thou repent too late ; what thou gettest, thou 
gainest by abused providence; what thou losest, 
thou losest by abused patience ; what thou winnest 
is prodigally spent ; what thou losest is prodigally 
lost : it is an evill trade that prodigality drives : 
and a bad voyage where the pilot is blind. 



LX. 

BEE very wary for whom thou becomest secu- 
rity, and for no more than thou art able to 
discharge, if thou lovest thy liberty. The borrower 
is a slave to the lender : the security is a slave to 
both : whilst the borrower and lender are both 
eased, the security beares both their burthens : he 
is a wise security that secures himselfe. 



LXI. 

LOOK upon thy affliction as thou doest upon 
thy physick : both imply a disease, and both 
are applyed for a cure, that, of the body, this of the 
soule : if they work, they promise health : if not, 



150 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

they threaten death : he is not happy that is not 
afflicted, but he that findes happinesse by his 
affliction. 

LXIL 

FF the knowledge of good whet thy desire to 
-*• good, it is a happy knowledge : if by thy igno- 
rance of evill, thou art surprized with evill, it is an 
unhappy ignorance. Happy is he that hath so 
much knowledge of good, as to desire it, and but 
so much knowledge of evill, as to feare it. 

LXIII. 

WHEN the flesh presents thee with delights, 
then present thy selfe with dangers : where 
the world possesses thee with vain hopes, there 
possesse thy selfe with true feare : when the divell 
brings thee oyle, bring thou vinegar. The way to 
be safe is never to be secure. 

LXIV. 

IF thy brother hath offended thee, forgive him 
freely, and be reconciled : to doe evill for evill, 
is human corruption : to doe good for good is civill 
retribution : to doe good for evill is Christian per- 
fection : the act of forgiven esse is God's precept : 
the manner of forgivenesse is God's president. 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 151 

LXV. 

REVERENCE the writings of holy men, but 
lodge not thy faith upon them, because but 
men : they are good pooles, but no fountaines. 
Build on Paul himselfe no longer than he builds on 
Christ : if Peter renounce his master, renounce 
Peter. The word of man may convince reason ; 
but the word of God alone can compell conscience. 

LXVL 

IN civill things follow the most ; in matters of 
religion, the fewest ; in all things follow the 
best : so shall thy waves bee pleasing to God ; so 
shall thy behaviour be plausible with men. 



I 



LXVIL 

F any losse or misery hath befalne to thy bro- 
ther, dissemble it to thyself: and what counsell 
thou givest him, register carefully; and when the 
case is thine, follow it : so shall thy owne reason 
convince thy passion, or thy passion confesse her 
own unreasonableness. 



152 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

LXVIII. 

WHEN thou goest about to change thy morall 
liberty into a Christian servitude, prepare 
thy selfe to be the world's laughing-stock : if thou 
overcome her scoffs, thou shalt have double honor ; 
if overcome, double shame : he is unworthy of a 
good master, that is ashamed of a bad livery. 



L 



LXIX. 

ET not the falling of a salt, or the crossing of 
a hare, or the crying of a cricket, trouble 
thee. They portend no evill, but what thou fearest : 
he is ill acquainted with himselfe, that knowes not 
his own fortunes more than they. If evill follow 
it, it is the punishment of thy superstition ; not the 
fulfilling of their portent : all things are lucky to 
thee, if thou wilt ; nothing but is ominous to the 
superstitious. 

LXX. 

SO behave thy self in thy course of life, as at a 
banquet. Take what is offer'd with modest 
thankfulnesse : and expect what is not as yet offer'd 
with hopefull patience: let not thy rude appetite 
presse thee ; nor a sleight carefulnesse indispose 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 153 

thee; nor a sullen discontent deject thee. Who 
desires more than enough, hath too much : and he 
that is satisfied with a little, hath no lesse than 
enough : Bene est cut Deus obtulit pared, quod 
satis est, manu. 



LXXI. 

IS thy child dead ? he is restored, not lost : is 
thy treasure stolne ? it is not lost, it is restored : 
he is an ill debtor, that counts repayment losse. 
But it was an evill chance that took thy child, and 
a wicked hand that stole thy treasure : what is that 
to thee? it matters not by whom he requires the 
things from whom he lent them: what goods are 
ours by loan, are not lost when willingly restored, 
but when unworthily received. 

LXXII. 

CENSURE no man, detract from no man: 
praise no man before his face; traduce no 
man behinde his back. Boast not thy selfe abroad, 
nor flatter thy selfe at home : if any thing crosse 
thee, accuse thy self; if any one extoll thee, humble 
thy selfe : honour those that instruct thee, and be 
thankfull to those that reprehend thee. Let all thy 
desires be subjected to reason, and let thy reason 



154 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. A. 

be corrected by religion. Weigh thy selfe by thy 
own ballances, and trust not the voice of wild 
opinion : observe thy selfe as thy greatest enemy, 
so shalt thou become thy greatest friend. 



LXXIII. 

ENDEAVOUR to make thy discourse such, as 
may administer profit to thy selfe ; or standers 
by, thou incurre the danger of an idle word : above 
all subjects, avoid those which are scurrilous, and 
obscene ; tales that are impertinent, and improbable, 
and dreams. 

LXXIV. 

IF God hath blest thee with a son, blesse thou 
that son with a lawfull calling: chuse such 
employment, as may stand with his fancie, and thy 
judgement : his country claymes his ability toward 
the building of her honour. If he cannot bring a 
cedar, let him bring a shrub. Hee that brings 
nothing usurps his life, and robs his country of a 
servant. 



A 



LXXV. 

T the first entrance into thy estate, keep a 
low saile : thou mayst rise with honour ; 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 155 

thou canst not decline without shame : he that 
begins as his father ended, shall end as his father 
begun. 

LXXVI. 

IF any obscene tale should chance to slip into 
thine ears, among the varieties of discourse, (if 
opportunity admit) reprove it : if otherwise, let thy 
silence, or change of countenance, interpret thy 
dislike ; the smiling ear is baud to the lascivious 
tongue. 

LXXVII. 

BEE more circumspect over the works of thy 
braine, than the actions of thy body : these 
have infirmity to plead for them; but they must 
stand upon their own bottomes : these are but the 
objects of few ; they of all : these will have equals 
to defend them ; they have inferiors to en vie them ; 
superiors, to deride them ; all to censure them : it 
is no lesse danger for these to be proclaimed at 
Paul's Crosse, than for them to be protested in 
Paul's church-yard. 

LXXVIII. 

USE common-place books, or collections, as 
indexes to light thee to the authours, lest 



156 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

thou be abused : he that takes learning 1 upon trust, 
makes him a faire cup-board with another's plate. 
He is an ill-advised purchaser, whose title depends 
more on witnesses than evidences. 



LXXIX. 

IF thou desire to make the best advantage of the 
muses, either by reading, to benefit thy selfe, 
or by writing, others, keep a peacefull soul in a 
temperate body : a full belly makes a dull brain ; 
and a turbulent spirit, a distracted judgement : the 
muses starve in a cook's shop, and a lawyer's study. 

LXXX. 

TTTHEN thou communicatest thy selfe by 
* * letters, heighten or depresse thy stile ac- 
cording to the quality of the party and businesse ; 
that which thy tongue would present to any, if 
present, let thy pen represent to him, absent : the 
tongue is the minde's interpreter, and the pen is 
the tongue's secretary. 

LXXXI. 

KEEP thy soule in exercise, lest her faculties 
rust for want of motion : to eat, sleepe, or 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 157 

sport too long stops the naturall course of her 
naturall actions : to dwell too long in the employ- 
ments of the body, is both the cause and signe of a 
dull spirit. 



LXXXII. 

BE very circumspect to whose tuition thou 
committest thy childe : every good scholar is 
not a good master. He must be a man of invin- 
cible patience, and singular observation : he must 
study children that will teach them well, and reason 
must rule him that would rule wisely : he must not 
take advantage of an ignorant father, nor give too 
much ear to an indulgent grandmother : the com- 
mon good must outweigh his private gaines, and 
his credit must out-bid gratuities : he must be dili- 
gent, and sober, not too familiar, nor too reserved, 
neither amorous nor phantasticke ; just, without 
fiercenesse ; mercifull, without fondnesse : if such 
a one thou meet with, thou hast found a treasure, 
which, if thou knowest how to value, is invaluable. 



LXXXIII. 

LET not thy laughter handsell thy owne jest, 
lest whilst thou laugh at it, others laugh at 
thee : neither tell it often to the same hearers, lest 



158 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

thou be thought forgetfull, or barren. There is no 
sweetnesse in a cabage twice sod, or a tale twice 
told. 

LXXXIV. 

IF opinion hath lighted the lampe of thy name, 
endeavour to encourage it with thy owne oyle, 
lest it go out and stinke : the chronicall disease of 
popularity is shame : if thou be once up, beware : 
from fame to infamy is a beaten roade. 



LXXXV. 

CLEANSE thy morning soule with private and 
due devotions ; till then admit no businesse : 
the first-borne of thy thoughts are God's, and not 
thine, but by sacriledge : thinke thy selfe not ready 
till thou hast praised him, and he will be alwayes 
ready to blesse thee. 

LXXXVI. 

IN all thy actions thinke God sees thee ; and in 
all his actions labour to see him; that will 
make thee fear him ; this will move thee to love 
him ; the feare of God is the beginning of know- 
ledge, and the knowledge of God is the perfection 
of love. 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 159 

LXXXVII. 

LET not the expectation of a reversion entice 
thy heart to the wish of the possessour's 
death, lest a judgement meet thee in thy expecta- 
tion, or a curse overtake thee in thy fruition : every 
wish makes thee a murtherer, and moves God to 
be an accessary ; God often lengthens the life of 
the possessour with the dayes of the expectour. 



LXXXVIII. 

PRIZE not thy selfe by what thou hast, but by 
what thou art ; hee that values a Jewell by 
her golden frame, or a book by her silver clasps, or 
a man by his vast estate, erres : if thou art not 
worth more than the world can make thee, thy 
Redeemer had a bad pennyworth, or thou an un- 
curious Redeemer. 



LXXXIX. 

LET not thy father's, nor the father's, nor the 
Church thy mother's beleefe, be the ground 
of thine : the Scripture lies open to the humble 
heart, but lockt against the proud inquisitour, he 
that beleeves with an implicite faith is a meer 
empericke in religion. 



160 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

XC. 

OF all sinnes, take greatest heed of that which 
thou hast last, and most repented of : he that 
was last thrust out of doores, is the next readiest 
to croud in againe : and he that thou hast sorest 
baffled, is likeliest to call more helpe for a revenge : 
it is requisite for him that hath cast one devill out, 
to keep strong hold lest seven return. 

XCL 

IN the meditation of divine mysteries, keep thy 
heart humble ; and thy thoughts holy : let phi- 
losophy not be asham'd to be confuted, nor logick 
blush to be confounded ; what thou canst not prove, 
approve ; what thou canst not comprehend, beleeve; 
and what thou canst beleeve, admire ; so shall thy 
ignorance be satisfied in thy faith, and thy doubts 
swallowed up with wonders : the best way to see 
day -light, is to put out thy candle. 

XCII. 

IF opinion hath cried thy name up, let thy mo- 
desty cry thy heart down, lest thou deceive it; 
or it thee : there is no lesse danger in a great name 
than a bad ; and no lesse honor in deserving of 
praise, than in the enduring it. 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 161 

XCIII. 

USE the holy Scriptures with all reverence ; let 
not thy wanton fancy carve it out in jests, 
nor thy sinfull wit make it an advocate to thy sin : 
it is a subject for thy faith, not fancy ; where wit 
and blasphemy is one trade, the understanding is 
banckrupt. 



XCIV. 

DOST thou complaine that God hath forsaken 
thee ? it is thou that hast forsaken him : 'tis 
thou that art mutable : in him there is no shadow 
of change, in his light is life ; if thy will drive thee 
into a dungeon, thou makest thy own darknesse, 
and in that darknesse dwels thy death ; from 
whence, if he redeem thee, he is mercifull : if not, 
he is just ; in both, he receives glory. 

xcv. 

MAKE use of time, if thou lov'st eternity : 
know, yesterday cannot be recalled, to mor- 
row cannot be assured : to day is only thine ; which 
if thou procrastinate, thou losest ; which lost, is lost 
for ever ; one to day is worth two to morrows. 



M 



162 ENCHIRIDION. Cent. 4. 

XCVL 

IF thou be strong enough to encounter with the 
times, keep thy station ; if not, shift a foot to 
gain advantage of the times. He that acts a begger 
to prevent a thiefe, is neer the poorer ; it is a great 
part of wisdome, sometimes to seem a fool. 

XCVII. 

IF thou intend thy writings for the publique 
view, lard them not too much with the choice 
lines of another author, lest thou lose thy own 
gravy : what thou hast read and digested being 
delivered in thy owne stile becomes thine: it is 
more decent to weare a plaine suit of one entire 
cloth, than a gaudy garment checquered with 
divers richer fragments. 

XCVIII. 

IF God hath blest thee with inheritance, and 
children to inherit, trust not the stafFe of thy 
family to the hands of one. Make not many 
beggers in the building up of one great heir, lest if 
he miscarry through a prodigall will, the rest sink 
through a hard necessity. God's allowance is a 
double portion: when high blood and generous 



Cent. 4. ENCHIRIDION. 1G3 

breeding breake their fast in plenty, and dine in 
poverty, they often sup in infamy : if thou deny 
them faulcon's wings to prey on fowl, give them 
kite's stomachs to seize on garbage. 



XCIX. 

BE very vigilant over thy childe in the April of 
his understanding, lest the frosts of May 
nippe his blossomes. While he is a tender twig, 
streighten him ; whilst he is a new vessel, season 
him ; such as thou makest him, such commonly 
thou shalt finde him. Let his first lesson be obe- 
dience, and the second shall be what thou wilt. 
Give him education in good letters, to the utmost 
of thy ability, and his capacity. Season his youth 
with the love of his Creatour, and make the feare 
of his God the beginning of his knowledge : if he 
have an active spirit, rather rectifie than curbe it ; 
but reckon idlenesse among his chiefest faults. 
Above all things, keep him from vain, lascivious 
and amorous pamphlets, as the primmers of all 
vice. As his judgement ripens, observe his incli- 
nation, and tender him a calling, that shall not 
crosse it : forced marriages and callings seldome 
prosper ; shew him both the mow, and the plough ; 
and prepare him as well for the danger of the 
skirmish, as possesse him with the honour of the 



164 ENCHIRIDION. Cent 4. 

prize. If he chuse the profession of a schollar, 
advise him to study the most profitable arts : 
poetry, and the mathematicks, take up too great a 
latitude of the soule, and moderately used, are good 
recreations, but bad callings, being nothing but 
their owne reward : if he chuse the profession of a 
souldier, let him know, withall, honour must be his 
greatest wages, and his enemies his surest pay- 
master. Prepare him against the danger of a 
warre, and advise him of the greater mischiefes of 
a garrison ; let him avoid debauchnesse and duels 
to the utmost of his power, and remember he is 
not his owne man, and (being his countrie's ser- 
vant) hath no estate in his owne life. If he chuse 
a trade, teach him to forget his father's house, and 
his mother's wing : advise him to be conscionable, 
carefull, and constant : this done, thou hast done 
thy part, leave the rest to providence, and thou 
hast done it well. 



CONVEY thy love to thy friend, as an arrow 
to the marke, to stick there, not as a ball 
against the wall, to rebound back to thee: that 
friendship will not continue to the end, that is 
begun for an end. 



ENCHIRIDION. 165 



MEDITATION is the life of the soul; 
action is the soule of meditation ; honour 
is the reward of action : so meditate, that thou 
may st do ; so do, that thou may st purchase honour : 
for which purchase, give God the glory. 



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INDEX. 



WMSXMS^MS^ 



INDEX 




Cquaintance, 
ii. 44, 45 
Action, ii. 4, 
5, 98 ; iiL 
48 ; iv. 12 

Advancement, ii. 49 

Advantage, ii. 54 

Adversity, iii. 97 

Advice, i. 72 

Affections, ii. 16, 25, 94; 
iv. 61 

Affliction, ii. 36, 38 

Alms, iii. 38 

Alteration, i. 6 

Ambitious Men, i. 79 

Ambitious Natures, L 59 

Anger, ii. 37, 60, 67 

Apparel, ii. 79 ; iii. 67 

Argument, iii. 22, 69 

Assault, i. 88 

Auxiliar, i. 49 

Avarice, iL 64 

Banishment, iii. 7 
Banquet, iv. 70 



Beauty, iii. 9 
Brother, iL 42 ; iii. 45 

Calling, iv. 74 
Calumny, i. 12 
Care, iL 24 
Castles, L 45 
Censure, ii. 81 ; iiL 13, 78 
Ceremonies, ii. 88 
Charity, iL 2, 70 ; iiL 71 
Child, ii. 87, 97; iii. 18; 

iv. 99 
Children, iii. 37 
Church, iv. 33 
Church Government, L 89 
Circumspection, iv. 77 
Civil Commotion, L 37 
Clemency and Severity, i. 

70,81 
Clergy, L 54 
Climatic al Advantage, L 

11 
Commanders, i. 65 
Commander, i. 98 
Commendations, iv. 58 



170 



INDEX. 



Commission, i. 83 
Common -place Books, iv. 

78 
Company, ii. 29 
Complaint, iv. 94 
Composition, i. 13 
Confession, ii. 76 ; iv. 35 
Confidence, i. 94 
Conquest, i. 3, 36 
Conscience, iii. 90 
Conspiracy, i. 19 
Content, iv. 13, 20 
Contentedness, iv. 10 
Conversation, iii. 47 
Copy Book, iii. 58 
Correspondency, i. 21 
Counsellors, i. 24, 60 
Courage, i. 43 
Covetousness, i. 90 
Cross, iv. 41 
Custom, i. 35 ; ii. 65 

Danger, iii. 64 

Daughter, ii. 56 

Death, ii. 84, 100; iv. 37, 

53 
Debt, i. 64 
Delay, i. 68 
Deliberation, i. 16 
Demeanour, i. 15 ; iv. 1, 

56 
Deserts, i. 92 
Design, i. 41 
Devotion, iv. 85 
Discontents, i. 67 



Discourse, iii. 5, 55 ; iv. 73 
Discovery, i. 31 
Disposition, i. 29 
Doubt and Opinion, iii. 86 
Drunkenness, iii. 14 ; iv. 2 

Encouragement, i. 71 
Enemy, ii. 68 
Envy, iv. 24 
Esteem, iii. 87 
Estimation, iv. 88 
Eucharist, iii. 39 
Evil, ii. 40, 78 
Exaction, i. 28 
Example, iv. 66 
Exercise, iii. 91 ; iv. 81 
Experiments, i. 26 
Exuls, i. 50 

Fai'th, ii. 11, 59 
Familiars, iii. 27 
Fancy, ii. 15 
Fast, ii. 89 
Fasting, iii. 79 
Fear, iv. 15, 38 
Festival, iii. 83 
Folly, iv. 22 
Foolish confidence, i. 38 
Forgiveness, iv. 64 
Forreign humours, i. 85 
Forreign inclination, i. 

99 
Forreign King, i. 66 
Fortress, i. 30, 62 
Friend, ii. 52 ; iv. 100 



INDEX. 



171 



Friendship, ii. 26 
Frugality, iv. 75 

Gaming, iv. 59 

Gift, ii. 63; iii. 61 ; iv.52 

Give and forgive, iv. 57 

Giver, ii. 85 ; iv. 8 

Glory, iv. 47 

God, ii. 28, 30 ; iii. 63, 92; 

iv. 86 
Grace, ii. 65 

Happiness, ii. 83 
Harlot, iii. 26 
Hearts of Subjects, i. 42 
Heaven, ii. 99 ; iv. 30 
Heir, iii. 28 ; iv. 98 
Hierarchy, i. 61 
Honour, ii. 21, 47, 72,82; 

iii. 51 
Hope, iii. 62 
Hope and Fear, iii. 77 
Humane Writings, iv. 65 
Humiliation, iv. 1 1 
Humility, iv. 54 
Hunting, i. 80 

Ideot, iii. 16 
Idleness, i. 22 
Idlenesse, iv. 27 
Ignorance, ii. 8, 92 ; iv. 

23 
Impropriations, iv. 19 
Infancy, iv. 5 
Innocence and Wisdom, 

iii. 82 



Intention, iii. 36 
Invasion, i. 2 

Jest, iv. 83 
Journey, iii. 30 
Justice, iii. 74 
Just War, i. 20 

Knowledge, iii. 73, 81 ; 
iv. 4, 26, 62 

Language, iv. 36 

Last Sin, iv. 90 

Laughter, iii. 3 

Law and Physick, iii. 19 

League, i. 76 

Letters, iv. 80 

Liberality, i. 17 

Library, iii. 85 

Loss, ii. 53 

Losse, iv. 67, 71 

Love, ii. 7, 14 ; iii. 46, 95 

Love and Fear, i. 95 

Luxury, ii. 74 

Lyer, iii. 4 

Magistrate, iii. 65^ 88 
Magistracy, iv. 6 
Magnanimity, iv. 42 
Man, iv. 21 
Manufacture, i. 47 
Marriage, iv. 40 
Master and Servant, iii. 

10 
Mercy, iii. 23 



172 



INDEX. 



Merit, iii. 54 
Mirth, iii. 44 
Misery, iv. 48 
Misteries, ii. 90 
Mixt Government, i. 7 
Moderation, ii. 73 
Money, i. 10; ii. 10, 55 ; 

iii. 31 
Mother, ii. 95 
Multitude, iii. 41 
Mysteries, iii. 20 ; iv. 91 

Name, iv. 92 
Necessity? i. 69 
Neutrality, i. 23 
New Gentry, i. 77 
News, ii. 51 
Nobility, i. 25, 58 

Obedience, iv. 29 
Obloquy, iii. 17 
Obsceneness, iv. 76 
Opinion, i. 75 ; iv. 84 
Oppression, ii. 61 
Order and Fury, i. 93 

Pains, iii. 1 
Paint, iii. 75 
Painting, iv. 28 
Passion, ii. 32, 46 
Passions, ii. 39 
Patience, iii. 34 
Peace, L 40, 63 
Philosophy, iv. 46 
Piety and Policy, i. 1 



Pillars of State, i. 46 ' 
Place, iv. 44 
Pleasing, ii. 6 
Pleasures, i. 56 
Poor, iii. 15, 21 
Popular Sects, i. 84 
Popularity, ii. 41 
Possession, ii. 20 
Practise, iv. 43 
Praise, iv. 32 
Praise and Censure, iv. 50 
Prayer, ii. 62 ; iv. 39 
Prevention, i. 52 
Pride, ii. 9, 96 
Priest, iii. 24 
Promise, ii. 1 
Prosperity, ii. 33, 57 
Providence and Experi- 
ence, iii. 88 
Puritan, ii. 91 

Quo Warranto, i. 100 

Reason, ii. 19, 22 
Rebel, i. 4 

Recreation, ii. 80 ; iv* 49 
Redemption, ii. 75 
Reformation, i. 39 
Religion, i. 48, 57: ii. 31 
Repentance, iii. 25 ; iv. 

31,45 
Reproof, iii. 42, 52 
Repute, i. 97 
Reputation, iv. 25 
Resolution, i. 55 ; iii. 35 



INDEX. 



173 



Best, iii. 49 
Reversion, iv. 87 
Rewards and Punish- 
ments, i. 14 
Riches, ii. 17 ; iii. 50 
Rules, iv. 72 

Sabbath, iii. 76 
Safety, iv. 63 
Saviour, iii. 6 
Scandal, i. 44 
Scoffs, iv. 68 
Scripture, iv. 89, 93 
Scruples, i. 78 
Secrecy, i. 74 
Security, iv. 60 
Servant, ii. 93 ; iii. 60 
Silence, iii. 57, 93 
Sin, ii. 48, 71 ; iii. 12 ; 

iv. 3 
Sinful custom, ii. 12 
Situation, i. 81 
Souldier, iii. 84 
Souls progress, ii. 18 
Speaking and Hearing, iii, 

96 
Stability of Government, 

i. 34 
State change, i. 51 
Strength to Keep, i. 37 
Strength of Parts, i. 5 
Style, iv. 97 
Successour, i. 27 
Sudden resolution, i, 87 
Superstition, iv> 69 



Swearer, ii. 50 

Table, iii. 66 
Tapor, iv. 55 
Temperance, iv. 79 
Theft, iii. 56 ; iv. 14 
Theology, ii. 35 ; iii. 72 
Thy Self, ii. 43 
Thyself, iii. 94 
Time, ii. 27 
Times, i. 8 ; iv. 96 
Timely War, i. 18 
To -day, iv. 45 
Tongue, iii. 32 
Traffick, iii. 40 
Treachery, i. 73 
Treasure, ii. 77 ; iii. 29 
Trembling, ii. 34 
Truth, iii. 99 ; iv, 9 
True Temper, i, 32 
Tuition, iv. 82 

Undertaking, ii. 3 ; iii. 5S 
Use of Creatures, iv. 17 

Vain-glory, iv. 16 
Valour, ii. 59 
Vanity, iii. 33 
Variance, i. 53 
Vertue, iii. 8, 59 
Virgin, iv. 7 
Virtue, i. 91 
Vow, ii. 23 

Wages, iii, 70 



174 



INDEX. 



Want, iv. 34 
War in league, i. 9 
War offensive and defen- 
sive, i. 33 
Wedlock, iii. 11 
Weighty Services, i. 96 
Well-doing, iii. 43 



Wicked, iv. 18 
Wife, iii. 2 

Wisdom, iii. 80, 89, 100 
Words, iii. 68 
Work, ii. 13 
Wrong, ii. 69, 86 



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